Bombarder questions and misconceptions.

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Trent Mullins" <neontrent-at-earthlink-dot-net> 

Hello David and others,
 
Bombarder questions and misconceptions.
 
A "bombarder" is NOT used in neon signs.  It is used for the processing of neon
tubes.
A "bombarder" is essentially a pole pig, it is not current limited and must be
controlled 
by a saturable reactor or metal laminated slide choke.
"Bombarders" are available for purchase through neon sign industry supply
houses including
Franceformer, Transco, Eurocom, and Voltarc.  They are very expensive and
usually only the neon sign
shops with plenty of cash buy them.
The more economical route is to use a pole pig to process neon tubes.
Standard neon tubes have 2 electrodes each.  These electrodes come in different
mA ratings
depending on the diameter of the tube.
The most common is the 80mA electrode.  These electrodes are usually placed in
a neon circuit
with a 60mA NST.
Processing of the neon tubes requires that the electrodes reach 10 times their
rated current.
Therefore, an 80mA electrode needs to be processed at 800mA.
This is where the "bombarder" comes in.
"Bombarders" are usually rated very similar to pigs.
The standard ratings are 10kva, 15kVA, and 25kVA, with current capabilities
ranging from
0mA to 1200mA.
 
Hope this clears things up,
 
Trent Mullins
"Bendin' Glass 'N Passin' Gas"
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>Tesla list 
To: <mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 7:55 PM
Subject: New Capacitor (and a question about bombarders)

Original poster: <mailto:Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com 

Hi, Fellow Coilers,

I just received my .22 uFD -at- 50 kV Maxwell pulse cap that
I won off of ebay today. It was supposed to have come out
of a Marx generator bank from Los Alamos Labratories. It is
amazingly small considering its voltage/capacitance comb-
ination ( 11 3/4" long X 5 7/8" wide X 2 3/4" thick ), but is 
quite heavy for this size, too (~15 lbs). It's suppoesd to have
.93 uH equivalent series inductance ( I'm assuming that that
is quite low, which is good?) I determined its actual measured
capacitance to be .211 uFD. I figure this is enough capacitance 
to handle one monster of a Tesla coil ( like Kevin Eldrege's 
"Biggg Coil"), but may have to incorporate a series/parallel
configuration of 4 for the same capacitance -at- 100 kV to safely
handle the required voltage and current levels for such a system.

Now to my bombarder question. I've heard of using pig-like 
transformers to "bombard" a bank of NSTs, but I really don't
understand exactly what this is referring to. If it's not getting
too much off topic, maybe some of the engineers on this list
could enlighten me concerning this ;-]

Keeping 'em Sparkin in Memphis,
David Rieben