Archived - European Fusor

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Andrew Robinson
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Andrew Robinson »

About what I expected. Thanks!
I can wire anything directly into anything! I'm the professor!
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Werner Engel
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Werner Engel »

Today we started to stick the first parts together.
The doublecross is DN100.
The windows are not AR coated yet, but will be ...
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Richard Hull
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Richard Hull »

Wow! This is gonna' be a big boy! Wish I had a piece of chalk. ( there is a back story) As I am also a model railroader there is a real story about the Union Pacific Railroad ordering the largest locomotive ever made in a fleet of these steam locos in the early 40's. As the first one of these million pound + locos rolled out of the builder shops, some unknown worker took a big piece of white chalk and wrote in big foot tall letters on the front smoke box cover... "Big Boy"... The name stuck and that group or class of engines acquired that worker's moniker for all time.

This fusor is truly going to be a big boy among fusors, once it is lit up!
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Adam Szendrey
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Adam Szendrey »

Wow, that is a beautiful, big, clean system you are building there! Love the large windows. Can't wait to see it in action! Just checked out your introduction, nice to see someone so close to me (I live near Budapest), building such a wonderful fusor. Maybe one day I'll hop over and take a look :). Eventually we'll have fusion cons around here! (unless I missed it and there already are happening, which is perfectly possible considering how I've been out of the loop!)

Ps.: That HV feedthrough with the massive insulator made me drool!
Last edited by Adam Szendrey on Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
Frank Sanns
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Frank Sanns »

Very nice but I would need two insulators. $$$$$ :-(
Achiever's madness; when enough is still not enough. ---FS
We have to stop looking at the world through our physical eyes. The universe is NOT what we see. It is the quantum world that is real. The rest is just an electron illusion. ---FS
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Werner Engel
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Re: Archived - European Fusor - HV-PS

Post by Werner Engel »

Hi friends of the high voltage!

My new HV-transformator just arrived!

Here some data:
30 kV
2 kVA !!!
about 60 kg of material ;-)
including a thermal circuit breaker adjusted to 75°C.

This will create about 42 kV DC at approx. 50 mA - I love it!
If it's not enough, I can add another one reaching 84 kV - but this seems to be toooo much!
Four of them would reach the voltage for p-B11 :-)))
No, I'm kidding!

I will test it this Friday - whish me luck.
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Rich Feldman
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Rich Feldman »

Good luck with that transformer, Werner. :-)

Did you have it made to order, or was it designed for something else?
What are all those primary taps for?
Will it be used under oil?
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
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Werner Engel
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Werner Engel »

OK, I had bad luck!

Unfortunatly, after just reaching 18 kV, we had an arc between the HV coil and the core.
End of the story - I will try to let it repair on monday.
Isolation has to be improved or I have to submerge it in oil - what I tried to avoid.

Here you see two pics showing the corona discharge close to the rectifier diodes (in the darker picture) and the whole setup (built together with Philipp).

@ Rich: The primary taps are to pre-adjust voltage.
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Werner Engel
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Werner Engel »

OK, here is the solution to my last problem:
The Isolation at the bottom of the HV coils was optimized with this black isolation resin.

Should work now!
I'll keep you informed.
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Werner Engel
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Werner Engel »

Hi friends of fusion!

Within the next weeks I will travel to ITER.org together with some Austrian scientists. We will have a Special tour and also meet some of the guys working at the superconducting components. Pictures will be available in October.

Her ist an actual picture of my new CF double cross ready to be connected to the turbo. The old Iso-KF thing has to go ...


BR,
Werner

PS: Please also have a look at my invitation to the "European Fusor Meeting" viewtopic.php?f=47&t=11622
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Dennis P Brown
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Dennis P Brown »

Why are you reluctant to place that transformer under oil? It would certainly be safer - both for you and the x-former! Especially if you intend to get up to 40 kV; above 25 kV electrical items get flaky (they can short to places/distances that normally one would not guess) and oil can provide a lot of safety margin in any system. The oil also allows less chance to have the high voltage jump to something that you are near or touching that would normally be safe ... .

Those diodes look extremely under rated for any significant current (I use 1 amp, 20 kV diodes (two in series, of course) and these costed me $2 each.)

Your chamber and high voltage feed-thru are impressive.

I see in the image those diodes are shorting to the mounting plate (wood?) You need to make a proper mount and seriously consider placing the diodes under oil (besides electrical isolation, provides improved cooling.) I mount my diodes on a plexiglass plate. I use ceramic stand offs to hold the plate up (to increase insulation) in a plastic tub that I fill with oil. The diode assembles lift out easily. Besides cooling the oil makes corona issues go away. I also save money because the wiring between diodes is just normal low voltage wire (110 v stuff); I only use the expensive 40 kV stuff outside the oil.

I use inexpensive synthetic motor oil (a research paper on dielectric properties showed that this oil was equal/superior for these applications so I decided to try it) and it works extremely well up to 60 kV (so far, max voltage I have tested to date.)
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Werner Engel
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Werner Engel »

@ Dennis:
Using oil was an idea – but I try to stay dry as long as possible. The transformer has about 40 kg – so moving it and building a hull around it seems not to be that easy. I once thought about using SF6 instead of oil – but it was not possible to get it anymore.

Regarding the diodes: I already put them in epoxy – works perfect.
More currents seems a good idea to me. Which diodes did you use and where did you get them from?
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Dennis P Brown
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Re: Archived - European Fusor

Post by Dennis P Brown »

I got them on ebay and there from china. They really do a good job and are a steal considering. They are rated to 20 kV and an amp but I hardly trust that so I use two for 32 kV and my system has a max surge of 100 - 200 ma.) They will handle 100 millamps without an issue and could do a good bit higher I bet - as for 2 amp, well, please but they are really big.

I like oil because it is fool proof (mostly) and just letting the item drain over night cleans most off. Then a bit of alcohol and a cloth does the trick. Using cheap synthetic motor oil (same or superior performance to x-former oil) makes even large systems easy and cheap to immerse.


OK, found them:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-8-10pcs-PRH ... 37BR1E7QgA

These are a bargain at under $2 each! They really do work nicely (have never lost even one for any reason) - of course, just never use them near their highest rated voltage! If you exceed 16 kV, do use two in series. At these prices, can't go wrong so get extra in case you decide to do more systems (shipping and waiting for them is a hassle) - I have a lot of extras for those reasons. Their direction is as marked on their sides.
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