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David,
Never heard of anyone trying something like that.
You will have some very significant obstacles to overcome.
Oil has a very much higher viscosity than air. If your rotor is
spinning at anything close to the 1800 - 3600 RPM that most RSGs work
at, you will need a very powerful motor to overcome the friction of the
oil. Just the frictional energy consumption of spinning the rotor will
heat the oil considerably. You will need a strong container for your
system to withstand the turbulent force of the oil being propelled by
your rotor.
What kind of seal do you propose to use to admit the rotor shaft into
your oil enclosure, or do you plan to put your motor inside the oil bath
as well?.
Further, any arcing inside the oil will heat the oil even more. Somehow,
the combination of arcs and hot oil suggests a recipe for disaster.
Cavitation of the oil around the electrodes will diminish any benefit of
the oil immersion.
Arcs inside oil will break down the oil into potentially conductive
carbon contaminants, which will likely reduce the insulating capability
of the oil as operating time decreases.
I would try to optimize an air rotary gap first. Air is cheap, low
viscosity, a pretty good insulator, and non-flammable.
Dave
On 4/8/2014 9:32 PM, David Boyle wrote:
I'm planning to build a synchronous rotary spark gap with the terminals
inside a fluid tight plastic box and filled with dielectric oil. This
should cut down on the noise, allow me to use steel electrodes because
of the lower temperatures, and it should quench like a champ. Has anyone
had any experience building one of these?