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More thoughts on RSG dwell time



>From my previous post:
>I'm not convinced that electrode dwell time has too much bearing on
>quench performance.  In your case, the rim of an 8" disk rotating at 1500
>RPM will travel at 628 inches per second.  Let's shoot for a quench time
>of 100 usec.  The disk rim would travel 0.0628" in this time.  Unless
>your electrodes are each less than 0.03" wide, the dwell time will exceed
>the target quench time.

Warning - armchair anaylsis follows...

It occured to me after I sent this that even this analysis is optimistic,
it doesn't take into account the fact that the electrodes will arc well
before they are lined up.  If the voltage on the cap just prior to
electrode alignment would normally jump a 0.30" static gap with nice,
smooth, large radius-of-curvature electrodes, it will certainly do so on
the RSG electrodes.  If the RSG has two pairs of electrodes, this means
that it will fire sometime prior to being 0.15" away from alignment.  If
we assume that it will quench in 100 usec, this will have occured and be
over BEFORE electrode alignment.  Electrode dwell time would appear to to
totally irrelavant.  I suggest that efforts would be better spent on
electrodes with large radii of curvature to minimize the distance at
which arcing occurs.

Gary Lau
Waltham, MA USA