More pipe cap TSG experiments

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

Original poster: "S & J Young" <youngs-at-konnections-dot-net> 

A few weeks ago, I reported results of Jim Lux's pipe cap triggered spark
gap design.  I got good results using a half inch diameter hole for the
trigger side of the gap.  But with my DC resonant charging setup, it would
fail to quench sufficiently at power levels over 1 KW DC.

So I tried it again with a 3/4 inch hole, allowing a longer trigger spark
and more air volume through the gap.  I was able to crank another 100 watts
through it before it started losing quench, causing my filter caps to dump
their joules through the reactor into the gap, causing the power supply
variac to thump and protest due to the large pulses of mains power to
recharge the power supply filter caps.  Bad scene.

A clue is that when I raise the break rate above about 180 BPS, the filter
cap discharges happen much more frequently, indicating not enough time has
elapsed between trigger pulses to clear out the conducting hot ions.

Sadly, I am convinced more and more that TSGs for high power will only be
successful with AC power supplies.  This allows enough time to blow out the
hot ions during  the times the voltage is below the gap firing point.  This
leaves the old standby - an asynchronous rotary spark gap - as the most
reliable solution for higher power DC powered TCs.

Comments?

--Steve Y.