Warning many people who are not experienced working with HV have killed
themselves poking around in a microwave oven. Also the neon
transformers may be able to produce several kilovolts but the patent
refers to currents of 500mA or more and voltages that range from 800V
to several kV. At an assumed voltage of 2kV and current of 500 mA we
are talking about a 1 kW power supply here. This is serious power and
quite lethal. There is much talk about 4 joules being about the right
amount of energy to kill someone and a 1kW HV supply can deliver this
much energy in 4 msec! Very few people have a reaction time much less
than 20 msec and to make matters worse DC causes muscles to contract
and stay contracted so you can't let go. AC at least gives you 60
chances to let go every second! The bottom line here is don't fool
around with this unless you know what you are doing.
The comment about the high power input to the process is also correct
but the patent claims reaction times in the tens of milliseconds and
linear flow rates are quite high so the power is not on for a long
time. Energy is power times time so a 1kw load running for 5 minutes
is using 0.083 Kwh of energy. I currently pay an average rate of 5
cents per kilowatt hour so doing the math it would cost a whopping
total of less than half a penny. To run the reactor for an hour would
cost me 5 cents in electricity charges. Also the comment below about
'simple' high voltage diodes might sound misleading to anyone who is
not in the know. Designing HV stacks is not a trivial undertaking.
Schottky rectifier diodes do not have a suitable recovery
characteristic to be used without somewhat complicated compensating
networks and are far more likely to be the type found by the casual
electronics tinkerer at the local electronics supply. Surplus HV power
supplies are available at bargain prices occasionaly. Often these are
tube type rectifier units which require cooling water and good
grounding, i.e. a couple of copper rods driven into the earth within a
short distance of the unit. Expect to pay at least a kilobuck for one
of these. High frequency switching units are much better and do not
drive nearly as much current into the ground when they arc out but
won't be surplus equipment and expect to pay tens of kilobucks for one
of these babies, but might be a good investment for a coop wanting to
make lots of fuel in a hurry if this idea turns out to be viable.
I'm going to see what I can come up with to verify the claim and report
back to the list.
Joe
des wrote:
Rumen Slavov wrote:
Dear Friends,
As an electrician I wold propose to use a HV
transformer for neon lighting /you can see a lot of
it
over allmost any restorant entrance/ and a simple HV
diodes to make HV into DC. The transformer supply
3000
to 5000 volts.To avoid forming an ark,the electrodes
must be kept apart in a distance of 3-4 cm.
Have luck!
Ross Milan
Or similarly, an oil burner (furnace) ignition transformer... I think
both of these are also available as switched mode power supplies, which
don't spin your electric meter quite as quickly. Generally, the neon
sign trafo is going to have a higher voltage, and both rate their
currents in milliamps. Microwave oven high voltage transformers also
could be used, they aren't usually potted (tar or epoxy filled), and
could be rewound to provide the voltage you need. They (IIRC) aren't
current limited, and therefore are more lethal...
doug swanson
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