From: "Terrell W. Fritz"
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 22:29:58 -0600
Subject: [TSSP] 50,000V fun
Hi All,
I got my other Bertan 50kV supply out tonight (I have two, long story...). I
have to remake the output cable and track down a loose connection in it but I
finally got it working perfectly again. This power supply has a very accurate
and clean positive DC output.
First I put the largest and smallest spheres on to the ends of a 1 foot long
all thread rod and turned on the voltage. Even at 50kV, there was not visible
corona and it drew less than 1uA. I could hear a little sizzling but it was
very faint.
I then tried a small metal screwdriver with a sharp tip. The tip did get
corona but it was still pretty weak. Much less than I expected. Maybe 1 or
2uA at 50kV. I was thinking the power supply just was not working or something
like that.
I then put a grounded tool about 3 inches away. At 35kV it was sputtering and
snarling very loudly. Had a bright blue glow and all that at around 200uA.
soon it would snap over with a nice big arc. This was a far far cry from the
previous tests and showed that the power supply was working perfectly.
So the isolated spheres and even a point have a very hard time "breaking out".
They do seem to just charge up the air around them to make that much larger
sphere or effective surface area.
I did not have time to work with the OLTC stuff tonight but I will try
tomorrow.
Cheers,
Terry
Maintainer Paul Nicholson, paul@abelian.demon.co.uk.