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RE: I'm going to need help with a 34kV power supply



Original poster: "Loudner, Godfrey by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <gloudner-at-SINTE.EDU>

Hi Joe

I'm not sure about the make up of the power supply, but I have a few
thoughts. If you used it on a Jacob's ladder, I'm surprised that RF currents
did not destroy the diodes. It is possible that the unit employs a voltage
multiplier, in which case, the transformer's voltage output may be much less
than 34kV. I'll have to leave your tesla coil questions to those with
experience in using such high voltages. I pushed an x-ray transformer with a
built in full wave rectifier up to about 34kV. The corona looks bad on a
thin wire, but hardly noticeable along a thick wire, except at the ends. On
the basis of this, there might be a serious problem at the spark gap.

Godfrey Loudner   

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Tesla list [SMTP:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
> Sent:	Friday, November 02, 2001 12:38 PM
> To:	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject:	I'm going to need help with a 34kV power supply
> 
> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <jduva-at-baytechnologies-dot-net>
> 
> Greetings, all!  :)
>    A while back, I got my hands on a 34kV 120ma pulsed DC power supply
> from
> a laser assembly.  To date, I've only ever used it in a jacob's ladder and
> it was able to span a 7" gap pretty easily.
>    That said, I'm now itching to use that pretty gold box to power a
> larger
> tesla coil.  I realize that the extremely high voltage from this power
> supply is going to cause some major design problems with the primary
> circuit.  I have enough pulse caps to hold off 140kV and give me 7.5nf.
> The
> caps will obviously have to be immersed in oil, the connections and wiring
> between all of the components will all have to be heavily insulated and
> probably coated with an insulator to keep corona losses down, but I'm not
> sure about the construction of the primary coil.  I'll most likely use
> 3/8"
> copper tubing, but how far apart should the turns be spaced?.
>    The spark gap is another problem.  I'd like to use an async rotary with
> a
> good bit of radial velocity (3450rpm, instead of 1725rpm), but what would
> be
> good to use for the stationary electrodes so that they won't glow with
> corona and ionize the air around the gap excessively?  Would a nice fan
> take
> care of that, or should something like a small doorknob be used?
>    If I go with a static gap, I worry about corona losses at the edges of
> the copper pipes, if copper pipes are the best choice for this gap.
>    How do you feel about a triggered gap?  The trigger electrode would
> have
> to be powered with a significant amount of voltage, given that that tank
> circuit will be powered with a 34kV power supply.
>    Any advice on how to properly design and build such a high-voltage
> beast
> would be greatly appreciated.  I won't mind comments about safety, either,
> as I don't want to miss any issues on safety just because I hadn't
> remembered them at the time.
> 
> Thanks,
> Joe Duva
> 
>