Re: Triggered gap questions

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

The traditional arrangement for a trigatron type gap is to put the trigger
electrode in a hole in the middle of one of the spheres, flush with the
surface...Once the arc strikes, not much current flow is through the
trigger... It's the burst of ionized gas, the field distortion and the UV
that gets things rolling..

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 11:22 AM
Subject: Re: Triggered gap questions


> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Hollmike-at-aol-dot-com>
>
> Ok,  Here's a question for the triggered gap gurus:
>     I have been reading this thread with much interest.  It sounds like a
> great alternative to the SRSG!    One thing I read is that the primary
> current passes 'through' the trigger electrode.  My question is, could the
> trigger electrode be positioned slightly out of alignment with the primary
> gap electrodes so the triggered arc would have to take a slightly 'bent'
> path?  This, if so, would seem to me to help alleviate heating and/or
> corrosion of the trigger electrode.
>    It would seem that the trigger electrode could be made into a sharp
point
> and cause the ionization of the space between the gap electrodes to
provide
> the conductive channel to form more easily and not actually have the
primary
> current contact the trigger electrode at all(or very little anyway).   If
the
> trigger electrode were positioned from below the primary gap electrodes,
the
> heat might also help 'move' the arc away from the trigger electrode.
>  The first objection to this idea, I imagine, is that might argue that
this
> would effectively make the gap too wide and kill a NST, but if one placed
> another gap or two in series, the triggered gap could have a large
percentage
> length change, but the overall gap length would not change by much.
Having
> the series gaps would also seem to aid quenching as well.
> Comments?
> Mike
>
>
>
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