Re: Tungsten gap erosion

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
>
> Hi All,
>
> In a triggered spark gap.  There is no spinning rotor or bunch of copper
> sections to help cool the gap.  So I was thinking of just two water cooled
> 1/8 inch tungsten electrodes.  No fan or anything else.  Just the tungsten
> tips thermally linked to a water jacket with heavy copper mounting.
> Although no tungsten tips yet, sort of along the lines of:
>
> http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/ProtoSTSG.jpg
>
> I was wondering how fast the tungsten tips may erode or wear out with say a
> 900 watt coil.  They would stay cool (if 300C is cool :-)) but 120 times
> per second, they would be firing without too much air circulation.
>

Snipperz...

Hi Terry, all...

tungsten can be brazed ( soldering is useless in this application due to the
heat created while in an arc gap application (( the solder will remelt, loosing
the seal/bond)) )

I suppose 900W wont cause too much of a problem with arc erosion ( at 9000W
with no air flo the arc doesnt quench and the electrodes errode rather quickly,
like at about 1/8" in a few seconds ( 3/16" thick electrodes)

how do you plan on keeping the cooling water from being the conductor instead
of the air? Or do you plan on using some type of low viscosity dielectric oil
for cooling?


Scot D