Re: Nitrogen VS Compressed air quenching

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

Original poster: "Arpit Thomas" <arpit-at-inzo-dot-org> 

AHA! That explains the sulphur hexafluoride filled relays people have! 
Chlorine sounds pretty good for a recirculated system, especailly since I 
have a method of generating vast amounts of chlorine extremely cheaply ( 
oxidising agent- (i use trichloroisocynuric acid- pool tablets finely 
ground up in a ball mill) into hydrochloric acid- bought really cheaply 
from hardware store)  - just a little bit stank up my whole back yard and 
it really stings your eyes :(   But as you said a recirculating system 
might be a little hard to implement. Still,  It may be an option if I can't 
find a cheap air tank ;)
Yeah, preventing the heater from corroding would be a big problem, I'll 
probably end up just blasting a gap with air :) either a vacuum cleaner 
motor, or more probably ( because of harsh power limitations)  the same 
water heater emptied in 1 minute or so :) 600 litres a minute , not too 
shabby quenching would result I would imagine :)
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 3/05/2004 at 4:52 PM Tesla list wrote:

 >Original poster: "john cooper" <tesla-at-tesla-coil-dot-com>
 >
 >Why does nitrogen work better to quench?  Consider this:  The dielectric
 >strength of nitrogen is 1.00, the dielectric strength of argon is 0.18, I
 >use argon in the arcylic box used with my bi-polar coil because it
 >promotes
 >streamer length, I use nitrogen because it inhibits this.  There are
 >gasses
 >with a higher dielectric strength but many of those are poisonous -
 >chlorine (1.55), many are extremely expensive (300.00 for 5 lbs) - sulfur
 >hexafluoride(8.50), and others are possibly explosive - many methane
 >compounds.  Carbon Dioxide has three line item listings: 0.82, 0.84 &
 >0.88.  This is according to the 83rd Edition of the Handbook of Chemistry
 >&
 >Physics.  Interestingly, air has 4 separate line item listings with
 >ratings
 >of 0.4-0.7, 0.97, 1.4 & 3.0.  Based on my observations and experiments, I
 >would think the operable number in this application would have be the
 >0.4-0.7 listing.  Nitrogen just happens to be a commonly available and
 >comparatively cheap gas.
 >
 >Why not build a N capture and re-cycling system?  Simple, I'd rather deal
 >with a small bottle with a 15 foot non-conductive hose running into the
 >coil that costs 14.00 to fill than lug around a 500lb monstrosity that
 >requires its own power supply(s) costs 5000.00+ to build and takes 2 years
 >to develop and construct.  There's also the headache of where to place a
 >large metal mass that's possibly in very close proximity to your coil.
 >But
 >don't let me discourage you, something useful and totally unexpected could
 >come from that exercise but my guess is that this system has already been
 >developed for other applications.
 >
 >Also, using an old water heater for a reactive chemical container would
 >definitely be ill-advised, dangerous and possibly fatal to all in
 >proximity.
 >
 >John
 >
 >
 >---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
 >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 >Date:  Mon, 03 May 2004 08:20:17 -0600
 >
 > >Original poster: "Arpit Thomas" <arpit-at-inzo-dot-org>
 > >
 > >wow, thats interesting. Now what could it be about nitrogen that provides
 > >better quenching? could it be the fact tehre is less oxygen to react with
 > >or something? IT seems to me that if nitrogen is much better than
 > >compressed air, you could save a bit of time carting a heavy tank back
 >and
 > >forth if you made a circulating system for the nitrogen. a vacuum cleaner
 > >blower would be connected to the spark gap, and the exhauset of the spark
 > >gap ( this is all happening in a moderately large chamber)  then goes
 > >through some metal pipe which cools it, and then goes into the a
 >resevoir,
 > >such as an old water heater, then goes back to the blower. YOud fill the
 > >heater up with low pressure (2 atmospheres or so? ) nitrogen, and then
 >let
 > >it last for ages :)
 > >
 > >How's carbon dioxide for quenching? I pinched an old (bit rusty) water
 > >heater made in 1988 off another house in my street which was going to be
 > >demolished, and carried it home. I'm using it as an air tank, and might
 >use
 > >it to power an air blast gap. Another potential use would be to put some
 > >chemicals in which would react and generate carbon dioxxide at a pressure
 > >of about 6 or 7 atmospheres. I'd then use that to blast the gap :)
 > >
 > >*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
 > >
 > >On 2/05/2004 at 4:42 PM Tesla list wrote:
 > >
 > > >Original poster: "john cooper" <tesla-at-tesla-coil-dot-com>
 > > >
 > > >I've added photos of my prototype nitrogen manifold to my website,
 >here's
 > > >the link:
 > > >
 > > >http://www.tesla-coil-dot-com/bipolar.htm
 > > >
 > > >They're at the bottom of that page.  There's a photo of it installed in
 > > >the
 > > >original cabinet and two close-ups of the manifold that I just took
 > > >today.  For quenching ability the nitrogen is extremely effective while
 > > >compressed air is barely noticeable, apples and oranges.  FWIW a 42
 >cubic
 > > >foot bottle costs about 14.00 to fill and lasts for two 8 to 10 minute
 > > >runs, the bottle and regulator were around 400.00
 > >
 > >
 > >