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OTC Ion Source Driver / Med-High Power RF Power Supply

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 3:33 am
by lutzhoffman
Hello:

I came across this while researching new lighting technology, it sure sounds just like a possible "easy street ticket" to driving an RF ion source? It appears that the Sulfur lamp was not the end after all, to this branch of lighting evolution, to bad that these are not in the GHz range.

http://www.globalinductionlighting.com/ ... 9e9c26f43e

The next one below looks like that you could just carefully break the glass, and slip it over Carl's ion source. If it is that easy then I will be a very happy camper!

I have not been able to pin down the frequency of operation of these RF lights, if it is in the 13, or 28MHz band, then it should work, if its in the 100's of KHz range, then with some ultra fast diodes, we could potentially build some impressive HV power supplies. The ion source bottle, gas pressure, would probably have to be higher than with Doug's microwave method which may turn out to be the "fly in the ointment" but I think it defiantly warrants some further exploration to say the least. Here is the induction bulb that I am referring to:

http://www.trirlighting.com/products-pa ... ballasted/

I would be very interested to here some other folks ideas about the feasibility of powering our ion sources, with this kind of RF power supply? This technology may also open the door to some RF HV power supply designs, along the lines of the Dynamitron. Either way it looks like RF power just went OTC.

Re: OTC Ion Source Driver / Med-High Power RF Power Supply

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:30 am
by Wilfried Heil
No need to break anything. Just take the ferrite core apart, which comes in two pieces. The tube is manufactured first and then the ferrite ring is mounted around it. Drive frequency will be in one of the ISM bands, typically 250 kHz for the "low frequency" ones. You get both the RF driver circuit and the magnetic coupler in a very small package.

http://www.lvdinductionlamps.com/lamps.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlU-_WtyIFM

An interesting part is how the poloidal coil is wound, so that the core can be split. At first glance, this should not work at all. The tube receives power from the RF leakage only and has to be in close contact with the ferrite.

Re: OTC Ion Source Driver / Med-High Power RF Power Supply

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:44 am
by Linda Haile
This article states that these SOLARA lights operate at 250 kHz. It also lists others that operate at 2.6 MHz and 13.56 MHz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodeless_lamp

Re: OTC Ion Source Driver / Med-High Power RF Power Supply

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 3:34 pm
by Doug Coulter
I think it would be best, if not too expensive, to just buy one and test it, rather than simply speculate about it. Hook up a scope! If it won't go to low gas pressures (very likely) you may get some improvement if you can rig ECR magnets -- depends on the construction and where the ferrite has to be in this case.

Remember, these are meant to drive gas discharges in dense gas, deliberately at the easiest pressure to ionize as part of the product design. Or, "rots of ruck" with that.