The rated DC voltage of the stage capacitors must be at least as high as the peak HV input voltage, and the HV rectifiers must be at least 2X the peak HV input voltage. Add 20% - 50% to this to provide a degree of design margin. Use fast recovery rectifiers if you'll be driving from a high frequency source (see below). You can stack a series of identical lower voltage rectifiers to create higher voltage rectifiers.
Although a CW multiplier can be used for "hair raising" experiments, this is really NOT recommended unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing... especially if you're storing significant energy in your CW stage capacitors. This trick is done by connecting a series chain of high voltage resistors (Gigaohm(s)) between the CW output and your volunteer to severely limit maximum current to no more than 10's of microamperes. If your volunteer suddenly decides to step off the insulated platform, or if the platform flashes over, the HV resistor chain MUST safely withstand the full voltage of your CW without breaking down. Your volunteer's life may very well depend on YOUR engineering and construction skills.
Give serious consideration to the total amount of energy stored within the stage capacitors before arbitrarily selecting large valued stage capacitors. Consider powering your CW from a high frequency (20 - 25 kHz) HV source. This will allow you to reduce the stage capacitance and total CW energy. Also, remember that short-circuiting the HV output will likely destroy some (or all) of your rectifiers.
Some good design information for half-wave and full-wave CW designs can be found here:
http://blazelabs.com/e-exp15.asp http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlux/hv/cw1.htm Good luck and play safely, Bert -- Bert Hickman Stoneridge Engineering http://www.capturedlightning.com *********************************************************************** World's source for "Captured Lightning" Lichtenberg Figure sculptures, magnetically "shrunken" coins, and scarce/out of print technical books *********************************************************************** Neon Tesla wrote:
Im not sure if this is of topic but; I wan't to build a voltage multiplier but I have seen very little on the practical construction of large units, my 3 main questions of construction are, firstly what type of capacitors would work, would high voltage distribution PFC's be suitable? Secondly what are the values that should be used for the Capacitors and Diodes in relation to the power source, should the parts be over rated? And last I've seen Crock Croft Walton multipliers used in the same way as a Van De Graff in hair raising stunts, should or could this safely be attempted?
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