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RE: New cap info




Awsome info!  Did Beay recommend any particular part numbers?
Are these capacitors the same as used in induction heaters?
Do they make them in metal cans?
Barry

 ----------
|From: "tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com"-at-PMDF-at-PAXMB1
|To: Benson Barry; "Tesla-list-subscribers-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com"-at-PMDF-at-PAXMB1
|Subject: New cap info
|Date: Thursday, December 05, 1996 3:04AM
|
|<<File Attachment: 00000000.TXT>>
|From DavidF4797-at-aol-dot-com Thu Dec  5 00:15:59 1996
|Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 14:03:22 -0500
|From: DavidF4797-at-aol-dot-com
|To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
|Subject: New cap info
|
|To All:
|
|Warning: Huge Post!
|
|I just blew up my cap - which had been working just fine for about 8 hours 
of
|cumulative TC use by switching to a rotary gap with my neon.  I had heard
|that a rotary gap with a neon put a heavy load on the neon and would likely
|burn it out, but since I had repotted my neon in oil I figured that it 
could
|handle it and it did.  It was the cap that couldn't :(
|
|I then spent 5 or 6 hours (!!) with one of the capacitor engineers (Beau
|Meskan) from a company here in Chicago called Plastic Caps which 
specializes
|in High Voltage discharge caps for military and industrial use.  He was 
very
|helpful, took me on a full tour of the plant and was willing to share
|everything he knew about HV cap design and construction.  He was also 
willing
|to put my cap (when I finish rebuilding it) in one of their vacume tanks 
and
|"pump it down" over night along with one of their regular runs.  They are
|also willing to sell their HV AC caps to tesla coilers at cost!  After the
|great and informative experience I had with them I don't hesitate to
|recommend them to anyone looking for a commercial cap for their TC.
| (shameless plug) Their phone number is (773) 489-2233.
|
|Plastic Cap has been experimenting with various materials and designs for 
the
|last forty years and has settled on some general rules of thumb which apply
|to high frequency AC caps these are as follows:
|
|1) Polyethylene (LDPE) film is no longer used because it is no longer
|available in "capacitor grade" film as of the 1970's.
|
|2) The 1200v/mil breakdown voltage that is reported in the literature is
|*only* for "capacitor grade" polypropelene or  polyehtelene film.  And 
since
|capacitor grade polyethylene grade film is no longer made, the 1200v/mil
|figure is no longer correct.  The polyproplelne (PP) and polyehtelelne (PE)
|materials that are currently available in sheet form from a plastics
|distributor have breakdown voltages only in the 450 to 700v/mil range 
because
|of impurities. The breakdown voltage for the PE sheeting that one can buy 
at
|the hardware store ("uyility" plastic) has an even lower breakdown voltage 
of
|about 250v/mil because of even greater levels of impurities.
|
|3) One of the reason that the industry switched from PE to PP was that the
|breakdown voltage variation in PP was much less than for PE.  For example,
|with 4 x 8 foot sheets of commercial grade plastic available from a 
plastics
|distributor,  the breakdown voltage of PE (same manufacturer) is roughly
|450v/mil on the low end to about 700v/mil on the high end which is a 250v
|variation  The he breakdown voltage variation, however, for PP is roughly
|550v/mil to 600v/mil or only a 50v variation.  In other words, the PP is 
much
|more consistent in its breakdown voltage characteristics that PE.
|
|Also, the melting point of PP is much higher than for PE so that if "hot
|spots" do occur in the cap,  PP is more resistant to melt down than PE.
|
|4) When building capacitors in mineral oil (without a vacume pump to remove
|the air bubbles) the plates should be no more than 3 inches long in any
|direction (for flat cap designs) or more than 3 inches wide for rolled 
caps.
| This is because dielectric  more than three inches wide will end up with 
dry
|spots which will heat and eventually cause cap failure. This is because the
|capillary action of mineral oil cannot easily penetrate more than 2 inches 
in
|any direction between plastic sheets.  (I noticed this effect in my flat 
cap
|the first build (which has 8.5x11in plates)).
|
|5) If you are determined to use a plate/dielectric size wider that 3 in, 
you
|must then use paper to wick the oil farther between the layers (I 
conclusion
|I came to myself when building mine).  This works well up to a 6 inch 
plate.
| Alternatively, If you use use *silicone* oil instead of  mineral oil, you
|may then dispense with the paper.  This will also work well to about a 6 
in.
|plate.
|
|6) If you use silicone oil (very expensive -at- $50.00/gallon) and paper, you
|may then be able to get away with a plate size as large as 8in if you allow
|sufficient time for the wicking action of the paper to completely remove 
the
|dry spots.
|
|7) While using paper for wicking has the advantage of elimination dry spots
|and therefore eliminates melt through at those spots, it also, 
unfortunately,
|has the disadvantage of  raising the dissipation factor (heating effect at
|high frequencies) of the total plastic paper sandwich. The bottom line 
though
|is that continuous more gentle heating over the entire surface of the
|dielectric (which is what happens when one uses paper) is preferable to the
|intense "hot spots" that occur in dry pockets.
|
|8) The best paper to use for wicking is Kraft paper which is available for
|capacitor use in various widths.  It is called "capacitor grade" Kraft 
paper
|and is *very* thin.  Plastic Cap uses 3 tenths of a mil thick Kraft paper
|which they feel has the best trade off between wicking action and the
|somewhat increased dissipation factor that results when it is paired with 
PP
|or PE.  If you can't get "capacitor grade" Kraft paper, use the *thinist*
|possible regular paper you can find.
|
|9) The Kraft paper should be interposed between each layer of PP or PE but 
if
|this is impractical then at the very least it should be used between the
|*shiny* side of the plate (aluminum foil or flashing) and the next layer of
|PP or PE.  The shiny side of anything, apparently, impedes capillary action
|while "dull" surfaces (slightly rough) encourage it.
|
|10) The cap, whether rolled or flat, should be built in several sections
|connected in *series*.  This lowers the voltage that occurs across each
|section.  The voltage at which corona begins to become a problem in cap
|construction is approximately 1200v.  This means that each "section" should
|not be forced to see more that 1200v.  A 15kv power supply, for instance,
| would require at least 12 or 13 sections (smaller caps) wired in series.
| This combination series/parallel design makes calculating the number of
|plates for proper capacitance a bit harder but is well worth it since 
corona
|(and the heat and loss produced thereby) will be eliminated resulting in 
much
|longer life and better performance for the cap.
|
|12) The aluminum foil available in the supermarket has many impurities such
|as sodium (the worst) that causes "hot spots" on the aluminum.  Once again
|"capacitor grade" aluminum is the best but in lieu of that, thicker
|dielectric and the use of polypro Propelene (which is more temperature 
stable
|than polypro Ehtelyene) is acceptable.
|
|13) When using non "capacitor grade" materials expect heeting of the
|dielectric (PE/PP), plate (aluminum) and wick (Kraft paper).  Leave plenty 
of
|room for expansion of the oil in such a system or explosion is likely.
|
|Whew!!! that was a long one.
|
|Hope it is usefull
|
|-DavidF-
|