Re: Trigger electrode wear

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

Original poster: "S & J Young by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <youngs-at-konnections-dot-net>

Gary,
Try using a ring or large "washer" with a hole about .75 inch diameter as
the trigger electrode.  Place it so the center of the hole is about half way
between your main electrodes.  For me, tis works great, and the gap spark
goes through the trigger electrode hole without any contact at all.  Sharpen
the edges of the "washer" to enhance the field strength and promote better
triggering.  I haven't tried the Trigatron configuration since the field
distortion setup I use works very well.
--Steve

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 8:07 AM
Subject: Trigger electrode wear


> Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>
>
> My progress on a triggered spark gap may only be described as "glacial",
> but I am making progress.  It seems as if most of the ones built to date
> have the trigger electrode located midway between the two main electrodes.
> When the main gap fires, the high-current arc passes through the trigger
> electrode in two separate segments.  In addition to the trigger electrode
> enduring the full power of the main arc, it would seem as the gap losses
in
> such a multi-segment arc may be higher.
>
> I'm wondering if the trigatron geometry, where the trigger electrode is
> coaxial and flush with one of the main electrodes, would be better so far
> as trigger electrode erosion goes?  I'm just trying to decide if I need to
> find tungsten rods, or if any kind of wire or threaded rod would suffice.
> If it only has to endure the relatively low energy pumped into the trigger
> coil, i.e. if the main arc does not pass through the trigger electrode,
> there should be almost no erosion.  Does it?
>
> My only reservation with the trigatron geometry is that the trigger
> polarity with respect to the adjacent electrode is always the same, since
> I'm using a DC-powered trigger generator. This results in alternate
trigger
> polarities with respect to the main electrode biases on alternate
> half-cycles.  Is this only significant if nanosecond-level jitter is a
concern?
>
> Regards, Gary Lau
> MA, USA
>
>
>