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 HVtransformer for neon lighting /you can see a lot ofitover allmost any restorant entrance/ and a simple HV diodes to make HV into DC. The transformer supply3000to 5000 volts.To avoid forming an ark,the electrodesmust be kept apart in a distance of 3-4 cm.Have luck! Ross MilanOr 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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