[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Any info available on Vacuum Gaps?
>Subject: Re: Any info available on Vacuum Gaps?
>Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19981029164700.009107b0-at-verinet-dot-com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>Original Poster: "Benjamin W. Bouxsein" <bbouxse-at-comp.uark.edu>
>
>
>On Thu, 29 Oct 1998, Tesla List wrote:
>
>I've got a book on old radar systems written before WWII.
Was their radar before WWII?
>
>Ben Bouxsein
>
>> Original Poster: "Dan" <dkrones-at-home-dot-com>
>> Any info available on Vacuum Gaps?
>> By "vacuum gap", I mean a spark gap where the gap itself is literally
>> contained within a vacuum. Typically the terminals are very close (.001" -
>> .005"). One of the 2 electrodes is adjustable for fine tuning the gap
>> distance.
>>
>> The challenges I see are how to adjust an electrode without breaking the
>> vacuum (perhaps a bellose of some kind). How to electrically insulate the
>> terminals. How to provide adequit heat sinking for the terminals.
>>
>> I have read that vacuum gaps are the best kind to use. Better than
>> multi-pole staionary gaps, better than air-quenched gaps, better than
>> rotary gaps.
Yep, nothing their to quench.
>>
>> Does anyone have any information on this (in support of or against)?
You need continous vacuum pumping. Their are laser fired gaps, they operate
real fast too. But you can use laser firing in gasses too for superior
performance.
>>
>> Does anyone have any plans or suggestions on how to build one?
Checkout "Gas Discharge Closing Switches" by Schaefer, Kristiansen &
Guenther, they have a chapter that I ignored cuz vacuum's realy suck ;-)
Once I understand enough about plasma & relativity, & having some prototypes
to work with, I want to investigate electron beam triggering, corona-UV
triggering, N2 - lasers and (relativistic) hollow-cathode electron beams. A
triggered discharge can have a longer distance, and faster quench, than a
self-firing gap.