Static gap conduction rates

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Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Hi All,

I'm in the midst of applying static gap arc voltage to gap spacing,
electrode size, etc...

After finalizing formula, I began looking at the conduction rates of a
static spark gap for various voltages. Interesting is a case of a high
power transformer in the presense of a narrow gap. For example, a 694mA
at 20kVp xfmr charging a .042uF cap with an arc voltage set at 6.4kVp.
Assume ideal rate (no zero crossing affects, re-ignition causes, etc.).

If the supply is kicked in at full voltage, the rate at which the cap
will be charged to the arc voltage is extroardinarily fast at about
330us (3030 bps)! Also, as expected, if arc votlage is set to 20kVp
(equal to the charging voltage), in this particular case, we can get
down to around 87 bps.

The time for the voltage to charge form t0 to t1 is 871us with an
impedance of 20,749 and above cap size (full charge occurs at t5 or
4.357ms). Now, in the case of such a narrow gap setting, I doubt a
conduction rate of 330us is possible. I'm trying to imagine here what
would occur at the gap in this situation. Thought I'd ask the list to
get some of your thoughts, if any, on this situation. Maybe someone has
actually tried it?

Thanks,
Bart