Re: 20 joules at 100 bps vs 4 joules at 500 bps

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Original poster: Greg Leyh <lod@xxxxxxxxxxx>


> Original poster: "Mike" <mike.marcum@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
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> [snip]
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> I've always wondered what would happen (without actually trying it, 
> don't wanna PO the power company) of actually arcing to a 14.4 kV 
> power line. I'm guessing a blindingly bright arc with enough current 
> to make the secondary go nuclear and perhaps tripping the substation 
> breaker making a whole neighborhood blackout. Am I right? I'd still 
> love to see what a 100A can do with a optimized DRSSTC. Ever thought 
> of building one and actually running it somewhere else? Tho the 
> secondary might be hard to move...
>
> Mike

Most likely the 14kV line will respond as if it sees a simple, 
relatively low impedance [<20ohm] line-to-ground fault.  Depending on 
the interrupter curves, the neighborhood will be de-energized within 
a few seconds; possibly longer if there's significant commercial 
loading in the area.  Shortly thereafter [30sec to minutes] the first 
automatic re-closer attempt at the substation should restore power.

A better way to couple the local power grid directly into your 
secondary would be to step the 14kV down to ~1kV first.  The burning 
arc between the toroid and 1kV terminal should present a load in the 
5-20ohm range, yielding ~50-200kW.   The neighborhood feeder should 
be able to support these loading levels for minutes, possibly longer.


-GL