We've got plasma!
Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 7:59 pm
Today we lit up our first plasma!
Using Argon gas and the cylindrical vacuum chamber we achieved our first glow discharge.
Some technical characteristics are:
Pressure:
-Before plasma: 55.3mTorr
-During plasma: 79.6mTorr
(Vacuum was achieved using an oil pump and a turbomolecular pump)
Applied voltage: 500V
Gas: Argon
GND: Cylindrical chamber (Stainless steel)
Electrode: 1.5mm stainless steel cable
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This image shows the plasma being produced using 1kV and 14mTorr
An enhancement in the plasma's confinement can be seen as voltage is increased.
This next image shows the aftermath for the electrode when the power supply went from 1,5kV to 0V when it was turned off.
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The next step for our fusor project is building a proper spherical GND electrode and rebuilding the inner one using Tungsten. One challenge we have is the negative High Voltage power supply, as we only have access to the 7.5kV power supply our lab has.
Jose Maria Jimenez Coronado
Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energies and Applications
Costa Rica
Ps. As my partner Allan said below this post, we (as a team) would like to be part of the Plasma Group.
Using Argon gas and the cylindrical vacuum chamber we achieved our first glow discharge.
Some technical characteristics are:
Pressure:
-Before plasma: 55.3mTorr
-During plasma: 79.6mTorr
(Vacuum was achieved using an oil pump and a turbomolecular pump)
Applied voltage: 500V
Gas: Argon
GND: Cylindrical chamber (Stainless steel)
Electrode: 1.5mm stainless steel cable
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This image shows the plasma being produced using 1kV and 14mTorr
An enhancement in the plasma's confinement can be seen as voltage is increased.
This next image shows the aftermath for the electrode when the power supply went from 1,5kV to 0V when it was turned off.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next step for our fusor project is building a proper spherical GND electrode and rebuilding the inner one using Tungsten. One challenge we have is the negative High Voltage power supply, as we only have access to the 7.5kV power supply our lab has.
Jose Maria Jimenez Coronado
Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energies and Applications
Costa Rica
Ps. As my partner Allan said below this post, we (as a team) would like to be part of the Plasma Group.