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Registered Member #152
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
Almost certainly not. I bet it would overheat in a few miliseconds. If not anything other, just because of the tiny size. And of course it is not designed for periodic discharges.
Registered Member #1316
Joined: Thu Feb 14 2008, 03:35AM
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 365
I was thinking for use as a sidiac replacement in a low power situation, for example TUD's candy box Hv supply. it only uses a watt or so. would it work in that situation?
Registered Member #152
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
well, from the datasheet it is not apparent if it has negative resistance behavior like normal gap, or if it clamps voltage just like a MOV... If the former, it might kinda work but i think you're still better with a classic gap, if the latter, it is not usable at all,
I thought you wanted to use it for a TC, for which won't work.
Registered Member #480
Joined: Thu Jul 06 2006, 07:08PM
Location: North America
Posts: 644
Weston -
Two answers for you:
1. A gas surge arrester IS a spark gap, with carefully controlled electrode spacing, electrode shape, and internal pressure to control the breakdown voltage within narrow limits.
2. Could a gas surge arrester be used as a spark gap for Tesla coil? Certainly, but the operating life might be short.
Years ago I built a small "desktop" spark-gap Tesla coil using a string of five 2.5KV spark-gap surge arresters. The coil had a 2" X 10" secondary, a helical primary, a 3" X 6" toroid, and initially used reconstituted mica-paper tank capacitors. Performance was 18" arcs to a grounded strike target, 14" air streamers. Power source was a 9KV NST, but there must have been some resonant rise in the tank circuit because 5 X 2.5KV = 12.5KV, but the spark gaps actually started firing at about 60 volts input. In various configurations this coil probably ended up with a total of a few hours of operating time, with no detectable deterioration of the spark gaps. Run times were limited to less than 10 minutes of continuous operation to prevent overheating of the spark gaps. The surge arresters I used were quite a bit larger (~1/2" diameter X 2.5" long) than the ones you were looking at.
Here are some photos of the earliest breadboard stage:
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
I've also seen the surge arresters used as spark gaps. Many gas appliances, boilers, cookers and so on have an electric spark igniter. I took one apart once, and it was just a little "Tesla coil" with a ferrite core, and one of those surge arresters as the primary spark gap. The tank capacitor was charged off rectified 240V mains, so I guess it was an OLTC, too.
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using gas surge arrester as a spark gap
