Plasma Club Application

[Cade Neely]

I am requesting to be admitted to the Plasma Club. Due to the nature of this post, I will only give the necessary information to be admitted to the club. Standby for a future post detailing my progress in full.

System Overview:
Here is a brief description of the demo fusor. The main components of the vacuum system are as follows: 2.75” stainless steel chamber, Edwards wide range gauge for chamber pressure measurement, and Pfeiffer 19.5 cfm vacuum pump capable of 3 microns. The high voltage power supply is composed of a variac controlled x-ray transformer; the max I have pushed it to is 4kv, 12ma. The AC output of the transformer is rectified using a full bridge rectifier. My high voltage feedthrough is based off of a design used by Liam David, and the grid is composed of molybdenum wire. The setup is remotely operated which will be important later on as I push the system to higher voltages in my quest for fusion.

Data:
I did a run of the reactor at three different pressures to demonstrate the voltage, current, plasma color, density, and luminosity. I obtained the following values: 250v 7ma at 500 microns, 250v 4ma at 86 microns, 600v 8ma at 31 microns. I assume that the lack of a well-defined plasma ball and a diffuse plasma glow in its place is due to the pulsating DC (I lack a smoothing capacitor in my power supply). Here are some pictures of my setup.

[Richard Hull]

Clear photos of gear and assembly, clear image of builder and system. Reports related to voltage current and pressures with images of same. This is the kind of thing we like to see reported for the plasma club. Cade, I have placed you in the plasma club. Great work and effort.

The diffuse plasma is strictly due to the high pressure and has nothing to do with an unfiltered supply. You can see from your images, the lower the pressure the better the plasma appears as a more confined ball.

Richard Hull

P.S. On a more General note:

I am pleased and amazed at the rate of growth of the new, much more difficult path to the plasma club. We now have 7 individuals who have risen to this much more prestigious level of achievement and 2 different student groups. These folks are able to really plumb the depths of a simple plasma with proper instrumentation to learn how voltage current and pressure affect a plasma, visually and electrically. Take time to study and learn before moving on, if desired, to attempt fusion.

RH