Magnetic quenched gaps

• To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
• Subject: Magnetic quenched gaps
• From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
• Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 01:40:02 -0500
• Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

From: 	Greg Leyh[SMTP:lod-at-pacbell-dot-net]
Sent: 	Monday, September 22, 1997 5:35 PM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: FW: Magnetic quenched gaps

David Huffman wrote:


> I have a question/problem with magnetic quenching. I can see how the 
> magnetic field can divert the arc in the gap and will cause it to 
> extinguish sooner then it would without the magnet. During the time 
> when the energy is mostly in the secondary (notch) and the gap is 
> filled with ions with relatively little movement, the magnetic field 
> applies very little force (F = qvB) on the stuff you want to remove
> from the gap. It would seem that an air blast would work as good or 
> better since to be effective the field needs to be very large.

The air blast definitely needs to be supersonic, if it is to displace
the entire gap volume in the 10's of microseconds allotted.
But such a blast is a double-edged sword, as it will drastically affect
the high current period of the arc, which should not be disturbed.
I suppose it's a matter of whether the gap needs so much help quenching
that it's worth it to reduce the gap performance somewhat.


-GL

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