[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: Many dry caps in series?



Gary and all,

Exactly my thinking also.  I second your request for knowledge and
experience by others with such a scheme--anyone done it?  My added thought
is the concern that if a couple of sections were to fail, then the rest of
the sections would be voltage stressed and would likely also fail
prematurely.  I believe it would be a good idea to put safety gaps across
each series cap.  I also think it is risky using a single layer of
dielectric, such as home depot 6 mil drop cloth whose manufacturer probably
doesn't care if it has a few pinholes in it.  Even at only a couple of KV
per series cap, I believe it would be safer to go with, say, 3 layers of 2
mil, which would virtually assure flaws in layers would not end up being
aligned.

--Steve Young

----------
> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Many dry caps in series?
> Date: Saturday, October 17, 1998 3:45 PM
> 
> Original Poster: Gary Lau  17-Oct-1998 1702 <lau-at-hdecad.ENET.dec-dot-com> 
> 
> I'm considering a new capacitor design that uses 20 rolled poly
> capacitors in series, each using a single 6 mil LDPE dielectric.  I would
> again use extended-foil construction with household aluminum foil.  Would
> such a construction reduce the voltage per cap enough that it wouldn't
> create corona and be necessary to displace the air with oil?  I'd love to
> avoid that whole oil-thing!
> 
> Gary Lau
> Waltham, MA USA
> 
>