Re: new caps (fwd)

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: new caps (fwd)
From: Tesla List <mod1-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 10:29:14 -0700 (MST)
Approved: mod1-at-pupman-dot-com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 11:23:14 -0800
From: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: new caps (fwd)

Tesla List wrote:

> after 3 months of failed designs ive finally engineered a portable solid
> state cap that works
> there about 15 cm tall and are basically 2 copper tubes separated by a
> pvc pipe.

PVC pipes are rather excessively thick for this purpose, and as consequence
you get low capacitance per volume. The thickness of a PVC pipe can sustain
several million volts, but you need only a few tens of kV. PVC is also
rather lossy at high frequency, and has significant surface conductance.

> i cant inject oil into them however as this would risk shorting the caps
> so i figured id run em dry. they work fine but i have 2 ques. 1 when i
> fire em i hear the normal corona humm but also some random clicks. its
> not shorting i know. also how would i figure how much im losing with
> these caps. ive got 1800 watts at my disposal (120 v -at-15 amps max) and i
> wanna use alot of em

Probably you can eliminate most of the corona and clicks by varnishing the 
pipes with polyurethane varnish. Solves the problem with surface conductance.
I have made some Leyden jar capacitors in this way.

-- 
Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz
mailto:acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq