Re: Tube switch (was -tube coils)

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

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

Not all thyratrons need this.  Some do have a reservoir heater that is used
to control the gas pressure, but not all.  The vast majority of tubes on my
EG&G list don't have reservoirs, for instance.

However, as others have pointed out, driving a BIG thyratron is a somewhat
tricky operation (compared to other things you might try).

I think the real future is going to be triggered spark gaps (which is sort
what a big hydrogen thyratron is). They are tough (which the thyratrons
aren't, esp with reverse current or big transients), potentially cheap for
the average hobby experimenter, and pretty high performance.

Running a TSG on H2 is a real attractive possibility for high rep rates (1
kHz and up), because of the fast quenching, but probably not needed for
line frequency triggering from AC tank supplies.


> > Richard Hull is the only person I know of who has tried a
> > single hydrogen thyratron for a TC.  Since it was a single
> > thyratron, he was not able to obtain a full power transfer.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> a hydrogen thyratron requires a variable regulated filament supply to
> controlthe gas presure inside while being used. If not used, no tube...dead.
>    Robert H