OverUnity Research

William ENKI on youtube is "Twisting my melon"

The guy is showing what appears to be a myriad of overunity devices all rather explicitly described in detail..

Demonstrates what looks to be genuine overunity with adapted Don smith designs / modified joule thiefs etc.

He's surely a controversial character, claims some interesting things otherwise too (read the comments - lol) his choice of language / manner of speaking to people is undoubtedly questionable.. regardless, he seems to be overtly showing how to put these things together, and seems to be spending a LOT of money in the process..


Is the channel an elaborate hoax in order to get people to order stuff they never receive? (as I have read several times)

Or are some of the circuits he is building legitimately overunity, self running and imminently practicable?
If so, which?
(This of course, being the shining goal for myself and many others)


This could be seen as a stupid question, given the amount of content he has released, however - I have yet to see more proof than lightbulbs being lit and numbers on screens.. where's the footage of (for example) a 2kw washing machine
being run off one of these multiple 00KW devices?
How about an ebike with no battery? This could be easily demonstrated if they provide the amount of power claimed..

Without being too cynical - as some of those videos really are very interesting - why are more demanding loads not demonstrated?

What are peoples' thought on this matter?

https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=4388.msg102114#msg102114
Member ifarrand has done business there
I seem to remember a "not so good" result? (EDIT yes post #32 above link)
Perhaps he can contribute some input?

Would be good to establish an outcome...

Thanks for the link Chet - That was an interesting read.. To me it's still undecided .. Hope lfarrand replies

Hi folks. I've been following William on YouTube for a while. I was originally sceptical about his claims, but I've since warmed to the idea that high frequency (20kHz+) charging of a capacitor to a high voltage coupled together with a low frequency discharge (50/60Hz) is the way to 'over 99% efficiency'.

This was the operating principle of the Don Smith devices. I'm still sceptical about the claims that the wire lengths contribute anything positive to the arrangement. Don Smith said that the only things you need are a capacitor and earth ground. The rest of the components were just for show as 'people expected to see them'.

In my opinion, it was also most likely the operating principle of the EV Gray capacitive discharge motor, since they charged high voltage capacitors and discharged them through a load. Ignoring the subterfuge involving the grenade coil, which I think was a distraction to keep people guessing, Kapanadze's devices also appear to have used the same selection of components - capacitors, transistors, diodes & SCR. There are parallels with a lot of overunity devices.

I agree that his manner and choice of language is not very civil, and some of his other interests are questionable. With that said, I do think he is on to something. He has many years of experience in this area and has quite in depth knowledge of Tesla's patents and Don Smith's work.

I purchased one of William's earlier devices - the 'Big & Scary', which was actually just a collection of cheap Chinese components sourced from AliExpress. The board consists of a DC/DC converter coupled with a ZVS and transformer. I'm in the process of attempting to measure the input & output, which is tricky at the best of times. I will need to discharge the capacitors through an isolation transformer using an SCR, then measure the power output through a load resistor. I'm hoping to do this in the next few days.

If any of you have ideas on how to perform accurate power measurements then please feel free to share them.

Hi Lee,

Regarding power measurements, on the output side perhaps applicable to rectify the output by full wave fast diode bridge and filter it to feed relatively pure DC into a resistive load where DC voltage and current are easily measurable.

Alternatively, if you have a specific non-inductive resistor of 0.1 to 1 Ohm to use directly in series with the load, then you could utilize the Math function of your two channel oscilloscope to multiply the AC voltage drop across this resistor by the AC voltage taken across the load,  you would also get a good estimation on the AC power involved at the load. You surely know this method, Channel A receives say the AC voltage across the load and Channel B receives the AC voltage drop across the 0.1 Ohm or so non-inductive resistor, so that the scope can multiply the two channels and choose the Math function to display the Mean value.

Regarding input power,  perhaps the DC input current and voltage measurement is feasable directly at the DC source when you use a low pass filter between the output of the DC source and the device DC input.

Gyula

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ecZgEEYxEg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59SOpvlkTYg

"-- In a system of electrical conversion, the combination of a generator or source of electricity and a. line or generating circuit containing a condenser or possessing capacity, and a working circuit ope'ratively connected with the generating-circuit through one or the working circuit will be maintained, as set forth."

Some other peoples' revisions :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N79BfmWI8a8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N79BfmWI8a8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2d35GVx6eI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2d35GVx6eI)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86G7Hg3Rak&t=126s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86G7Hg3Rak&t=126s)

It's interesting to compare the results and the components used ..

Don pretty much stated that the basic operating principle is open to interpretation ..

I like the idea of using 48v induction module personally .. the transformer seems to be the only bulky component.

I wonder if an entirely different form factor could be used - overlapping grids perhaps?

It astounds me that this technology has been so powerfully supressed as to be magic to most people..

Gerard Morin spoke / speaks about this .. I agree wholeheartedly ..

Quote from: gyula on 2023.05.23, 10:22:08
Hi Lee,

Regarding power measurements, on the output side perhaps applicable to rectify the output by full wave fast diode bridge and filter it to feed relatively pure DC into a resistive load where DC voltage and current are easily measurable.

Alternatively, if you have a specific non-inductive resistor of 0.1 to 1 Ohm to use directly in series with the load, then you could utilize the Math function of your two channel oscilloscope to multiply the AC voltage drop across this resistor by the AC voltage taken across the load,  you would also get a good estimation on the AC power involved at the load. You surely know this method, Channel A receives say the AC voltage across the load and Channel B receives the AC voltage drop across the 0.1 Ohm or so non-inductive resistor, so that the scope can multiply the two channels and choose the Math function to display the Mean value.

Regarding input power,  perhaps the DC input current and voltage measurement is feasable directly at the DC source when you use a low pass filter between the output of the DC source and the device DC input.

Gyula

Thanks Gyula. I am rectifying the output using a fast FWBR (SiC Schottky diodes) into capacitors, so I can at least see the DC voltage accumulating there at the moment. The problem is seeing how much power is available to power a load, and determining if the capacitor can be replenished fast enough. I'd prefer to avoid AC measurements as I know they are more complex and could introduce errors.

Measuring the input power is difficult even though I'm using an inline power meter which displays voltage and current. The problem is that I don't know how fast this device reacts and whether or not it is able to detect transient spikes such as when the current spikes initially for a very small time period when charging a capacitor through a low resistance. The power meter might display an average value and as such miss out on those transient spikes, which would then lead to errors and wrong conclusions.

I think the only way to prove one way or the other if the output is more than the input is to loop the device. I think designing a system that is originally started from a capacitor discharge is the way to go. Charge the capacitor initially from a 9V battery then kick it off and recharge that start capacitor from the rectified output. This is the direction I'm heading in.

Quote from: Renaissance Rising on 2023.05.23, 20:38:08
Thanks for the type up @lfarrand - I have come to the same conclusion, he definitely is doing the work one way or another .. I suppose I speak for everyone here in thanking you for taking the risk of a purchase, for what clarity was obtained.

No worries, I'm happy to take one for the team :)

I know if I didn't buy it to see for myself then I would have regretted it if the opportunity got away. I paid for it in Bitcoin which I had accumulated in the past, so it didn't really cost me anything tangible.

I think the high level summary of how the Don Smith devices work is:

1. Charge a low capacitance (10pF) to a high voltage (4,000V+) at high frequency (20kHz+)
2. Discharge this energy into a coil
3. Rectify the output into a smoothing capacitor (high capacitance at lower voltage)
4. Output DC to load or through an isolation transformer as 50/60Hz AC

I actually think you can skip step 2 (discharging into a coil) and simply just charge capacitors to high voltage and then use this to charge another capacitor or bank of capacitors to a lower voltage / higher capacitance.

Here are some examples to show how voltage is much more important when trying to increase energy using capacitors.

• 10pF 4000V is 0.00008J
• 100pF 4000V is 0.0008J (capacitance x10 = energy x10)
• 10pF 40000V is 0.08J (voltage x10 = energy x100)

The other benefit of charging a low capacitance to high voltage is that due to t=RC (capacitor time constant), if C is low then the time to charge will be low. My theory is that this requires fewer electrons, hence low current, since there will be fewer electrons excited to a high voltage rather than more electrons (higher capacitance) excited to a lower voltage. Higher capacitance means more electrons since there is more 2D space to fill.

I found this which I thought was very interesting: https://www.fundamentaljournals.org/index.php/ijfps/article/download/160/257

Here's a quote from that article:

QuoteThis is the reason it has been proven and verified that the energy stored and released by the discharge of the capacitor through the resistor is equal according to the conventionally known laws of physics, which is expressed by the capacitor energy (1), which reflects only the attractive part of the stored energy.

The conversion of the repulsive potential energy into electrical current happens only when there is a discharge device in the circuit that allows the charges to travel following the repulsive electrostatic force lines through space like spark gap, cold cathode tube, and/or vacuum tubes which are the examples of the devices that allow the charges to jump out of the conductor into space so that the stored repulsive electrostatic potential energy can be materialized into kinetic energy and consequently into the electrical current of the usable form.

Therefore, there was an omission of the repulsive electrostatic potential energy in the theoretical calculation of the stored energy in the capacitors, and incomplete experimental verification by releasing the electric charge through a resistive load, thereby unintentionally blocking the repulsive potential energy from manifesting itself into kinetic energy.

These were two fundamental misconceptions that resulted in the conventional physical law of local energy conservation in charged capacitors in electrodynamics. However, two errors, both theoretical and experimental, that mutually confirm each other to be accurate, do not necessarily prove that the involved scientific principle is valid.

The earlier cases of unusual energy-producing devices reported by Nikola Tesla (Tesla, 1901), T. H. Moray (, 1944), and others have consistently used discharge circuit elements such as spark gaps, cold cathode tubes, and vacuum tubes in their devices, which confirms the space-discharge to electrical-current-gain mechanism, which contributed to the workings of their devices, whether the engineers performing the experiment recognized the anomalous excess energy creation effect or not at the time.

From these examples, we conclude that the key mechanism for utilizing the additional electrostatic potential energy stored in the capacitor is by converting the repulsive potential energy into electrical current by letting the accumulated charges in the capacitor discharge through space before allowing them to recombine and let the total energy manifest at the power load.

Certain solid-state electronic devices with multiple layers of semiconductor junctions, for example, Sidac ("SIDAC Thyristors,"), among others, were developed in the 1950s and have a negative resistance property in their I-V discharge curves, as shown in Fig. 1.

Here's a video posted by the author of that article, explaining pretty much the same thing that the article does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhXV3ca1J6g&t=19s&ab_channel=EugeneJeong

I think there might be something in this. It's interesting to note that a spark gap, vacuum tube or multilayer solid state device are required for the effect to manifest.

I'd also like to add that I think the ground connection is a red herring. From my tests it appears as though the ground is acting as a simple relatively low conductor and isn't adding or capturing electrons in the circuit. There may be some other factor affecting this such as using resistors, diodes or some other exotic component arrangement, but I haven't seen any positive effect from using an earth ground so far.

When I did a test of shorting a battery using two separate earth grounds, I noticed the resistance was intially quite high (kilo-ohms to mega-ohms) but it dropped to 0 ohms after several seconds. When I then disconnected the battery and measured the resistance, the resistance starts at 0 ohms and then quickly rises back to the kilo-ohms to mega-ohms over several seconds. Very strange.

Actually, I'd like to retract my comment about not seeing any positive results using the earth ground.

I've just performed some tests and got a curious result.

I charged a 18uF 1.1kV metallized polypropylene film capacitor (Panasonic EZPV1B186MTB) with my bench power supply set to 100V. I then shorted it across a short length of 2.5mm^2 (1.73mm diameter) copper wire a number of times. It got REALLY hot (I pressed it against my lips to judge the temp) and the wire was damaged (pock marks) where it came into contact with the capacitor leads.

I then connected the positive lead of the bench power supply to an 8ft earth ground rod that I have knocked all the way into the ground. I connected the negative lead of the bench power supply to one side of the capacitor, and then another earth connection to a different ground rod to the other side of the capacitor. I then performed the same test as before, shorting the same copper wire a number of times. When I pressed the wire against my lips it was room temperature and wasn't warm at all. The damage to the points where the wire came into contact with the capacitor leads also looked less severe.

Obviously using one's lips to judge temperature isn't very scientific, but I was struggling to measure the temp with a handheld infrared temperature gun. In any case, the wire was obviously extremely hot in the first test and room temp in the second test. There wasn't even a shadow of a doubt about the difference, it was night and day.

I measured the voltage across the capacitor with a multimeter and it was 100V in both tests.

What explanation can there be for this curious outcome?

Hi Lee,

Sorry, for me it is not fully clear how you discharged the capacitor when the ground connections were used?  I mean what was the circuit like?  Did you mean the discharge by the piece of wire was done again directly across the capacitor like in the 1st test where there were no connections?

Gyula

Quote from: gyula on 2023.05.24, 13:09:49
Hi Lee,

Sorry, for me it is not fully clear how you discharged the capacitor when the ground connections were used?  I mean what was the circuit like?  Did you mean the discharge by the piece of wire was done again directly across the capacitor like in the 1st test where there were no connections?

Gyula

Yes I literally just placed the wire across both terminals of the capacitor to short it out.

(https://i.ibb.co/5F8JPcp/Untitled-Diagram.png) (https://ibb.co/M6VJmNw)

I connected the power supply positive to ground because I wanted a negative voltage vs earth ground. It worked the same way if I connected the power supply negative to ground and positive to the cap terminal, i.e. I saw the same effect.

When I shorted the cap with the power supply +ve & -ve connected then the power supply limited the output to 0W to prevent a short circuit, but this didn't happen when connected via ground.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious to explain the difference in heating of the copper wire, so feel free to share any thoughts you have. I'm all ears.

Thanks for the drawing, it is clear now. 

My explanation is that in Test 2 the power supply was able to provide much less additional current to the piece of wire than in Test 1 because the ground resistance inherently limited the power supply current.

This means that just discharging the 100 V charged capacitor alone, without the presence of the power supply, would not heat up as much the piece of wire than with the presence of the power supply. 

It is okay that the power supply limited the output to 0 W to prevent a short circuit but such process needs a certain time to take place and within this small time the wire surely received additional current from the supply, besides from the capacitor.   This would explain why this did not happen when connection was via the ground. 

Gyula

Thanks for your feedback Gyula, it is very much appreciated. I'm a relative newcomer to this game, so I'm happy to learn from your experience. This was the direction I was leaning to after I posted my last message.

With that said, I just ran another test with the capacitor connected to the power supply and my bench power supply current limited to 0.05A. It was previously set to 2.2A (max setting). I noticed that the capacitor took several seconds to charge to 100V, whereas before it was almost instant. The copper wire was still heating up significantly.

I then set the current limit back to 2.2A, connected the capacitor as in test 2 above and re-ran the same test. The power supply flashed up a number of values for the current, swinging between 0A and 2.2A, and the capacitor charged to 100V quicker than in the modified test above. The copper wire didn't heat up at all.

I'll make a video tomorrow to show what I'm seeing. I'm sure there is probably a prosaic explanation for it.

Lee,  I would like to add some more comments to the tests described in your last but one post with the schematic above.

Your power supply (PS) surely has an internal  electrolytic capacitor usually directly across the output terminals for filtering and very likely it has a higher uF capacity than the 18 uF you use for the tests.
I mention this because this capacitor should also need some discharge time right after the internal short circuit protection takes effect and can supply huge initial current towards the piece of wire till it discharges. 

The Panasonic EZPV1B186MTB 18 uF has an Equivalent Series Resistance of (ESR) 8.5 milliOhm specified at 10 kHz and practically the 100 V charged voltage in it can initiate an extremely high peak current in the shorting wire (data sheet says 900 A peak current is permissible max for this type). Of course, the peak current depends on the total resistance of the connecting wires you use between the PS output terminals and the capacitor connectors.

The capacitor inside the PS can provide a similarly huge (or even higher than the one coming from the 18 uF cap) peak current to the shorting wire and these two huge peak currents heat it up in your Test 1.

In your Test 2, the huge discharge current coming from the PS must have been largely missing because the resistance between the two grounds surely limits peak current, ground resistance is very likely much higher than some milliOhm.   Note: unfortunately, ground resistances can be nonlinear and may even change overnight, for instance from wet weather etc.

Finally, you may wish to check the voltages if there is any "ground loop voltage", using a digital voltmeter, with the PS set to 100 V between

1) your PS negative output and its own ground connection you indicated in green in your schematic above (maybe the negative terminal is ground independent?) and make sure there is no ground #1 and / or ground #2 connected to the power supply this time

2) your PS negative output and ground #2 and then ground #1

3) your PS positive output and ground #1 and #2 (here you may find some part of the 100 V output?)

4) between ground #1 and #2.

I do not assume there is a considerable unwanted voltage difference between the above points, just it is good to know such can be excluded from the circuit.

I would comment your latest test tomorrow, the video will surely help explaining it.

Thanks for you kind efforts.

Gyula

Hi Gyula,

Thanks for your comprehensive post, which made a lot of sense. It just goes to show how transients that meters aren't fast enough to react to can sometimes give a false impression. That's why I'm a bit sceptical about the measuring protocol that Enki is employing, since he is using simple DMMs and in line watt meters to judge input & output. I want to learn the errors of my ways from these simple experiments so that I can be wary of them in future.

Conn 1	Conn 2	Voltage
PS -VE	PS GND	10mV
PS -VE	Earth GND 1	3mV
PS -VE	Earth GND 2	0.5mV
PS +VE	Earth GND 1	15mV
PS +VE	Earth GND 2	10mV
Earth GND 1	Earth GND 2	0.324V
PS GND	Earth GND 1	0.235V
PS GND	Earth GND 2	95mV

To prove your theory about the PSU capacitor discharging instantly before the current limiting function had chance to kick in, I connected a 500W 100ohm resistor in line with the PS -VE and then re-ran the tests I did above. In both cases the copper wire remained cool, so it looks like the PSU capacitor discharge through a low resistance was causing the behaviour. As you say, the resistance of the earth is significantly higher so it was acting as a resistor to slow down the discharge which resulted in the wire remaining cool.

Hi Lee,

Thank you for doing these tests.

The some millivolts you find between the outputs of -VE, +VE of the PS and the Earth GNDs are low and negligible.

The 0.324 V between the two Earth GNDs indicate that an earth battery, a kind of galvanic or voltaic cell is formed by the two metal rods with the soil in between them. The internal resistance of such cell is normally high, may range from some hundred Ohms to several kOhms, depending on the conductivity of the local soil, this means that the current such cell is able to provide is rather small, in the range of uA or a few mA. They behave as a current source rather than a voltage source and could feed a Joule thief circuit for instance which is optimized for running at 0.2 - 0.3 V 'battery' voltages and flashes up a white LED.

So we can now be certain that the ground connections used in these tests did not bring in anomaly.

Your latest test with the 100 Ohm in series with the PS -VE terminal indicates that the energy stored in the internal capacitor of the PS was the main source for heating up the shorting wire, the 18 uF cap contributed but a little.

Gyula

Quote from: gyula on 2023.05.25, 10:05:33
Hi Lee,

Thank you for doing these tests.

The some millivolts you find between the outputs of -VE, +VE of the PS and the Earth GNDs are low and negligible.

The 0.324 V between the two Earth GNDs indicate that an earth battery, a kind of galvanic or voltaic cell is formed by the two metal rods with the soil in between them. The internal resistance of such cell is normally high, may range from some hundred Ohms to several kOhms, depending on the conductivity of the local soil, this means that the current such cell is able to provide is rather small, in the range of uA or a few mA. They behave as a current source rather than a voltage source and could feed a Joule thief circuit for instance which is optimized for running at 0.2 - 0.3 V 'battery' voltages and flashes up a white LED.

So we can now be certain that the ground connections used in these tests did not bring in anomaly.

Your latest test with the 100 Ohm in series with the PS -VE terminal indicates that the energy stored in the internal capacitor of the PS was the main source for heating up the shorting wire, the 18 uF cap contributed but a little.

Gyula

Thanks. Mystery solved :)

Now I'll move on to the next small step towards the ultimate goal.

I've been watching Enki's latest videos about his NEXT device. It all makes sense when he describes it end to end. I do think that he will have some timing issues in trying to coordinate the various stages of his device. He's using off the shelf components connected together in primitive fashion, such as cutting off power to the DC/DC buck converter using a MOSFET triggered by a PWM board. I'm guessing that there is a significant latency involved in that action alone. The buck converter surely has a short time period when it first starts, to prime capacitors etc.

I think a holistic system built with an Arduino or similar to coordinate the timings using PWM channels is the way to go. You can then use the PWM channels to set duty cycle and frequency independently and turn off channels at certain points as required. It is difficult to coordinate all that with off the shelf components cobbled together.

Enki just posted some new comments about earth grounding:

QuoteDon Smith really played the Earth grounding card to cover up the simplicity of the discharge

QuoteAmps are accumulated over time and discharge instantaneously from the capacitor do enough instantaneous Dumps  in the right amount of time and you have tremendous power

I had come to the same conclusion a few days ago. Earth ground isn't giving anything except a common reference point, and acting as a relatively high resistance conductor.

The magic is happening in the capacitor.

QuoteIntensity can be found by taking the energy density (energy per unit volume) at a point in space and multiplying it by the velocity at which the energy is moving. The resulting vector has the units of power divided by area (i.e., surface power density). The intensity of a wave is proportional to the square of its amplitude. For example, the intensity of an electromagnetic wave is proportional to the square of the wave's electric field amplitude.

Intensity (physics) - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensity_(physics))

QuoteIntensity is proportional to the square of the amplitude. So if the amplitude of a sound is doubled, its intensity is quadrupled.
Power is also proportional to the square of the amplitude.
Therefore, power and intensity are proportional to each other.

What is amplitude? - Indiana University (https://cmtext.indiana.edu/acoustics/chapter1_amplitude3.php)

Discharging a capacitor through an extremely low resistance will give you a super high peak of power burst over an extremely small time period, a coherent power wave if you like. Since power is proportional to the square of the amplitude, then it's obvious to see that a higher peak will yield much more power. If you discharged the same capacitor over a longer period through a higher resistance then the accumulated power would also be much lower.

A disruptive discharge is what Nikola Tesla called the event of a capacitor, charged to its maximum capacity, discharging all of its stored energy with extreme suddenness through a spark gap, creating oscillating currents in the circuit.

I'd like to remind people of this quote from Nikola Tesla:

QuoteYes, but with another kind of circuit I could, of course. The advantage of this apparatus was the delivering of energy at short intervals whereby one could increase activity, and with this scheme I was able to perform all of those wonderful experiments which have been reprinted from time to time in the technical papers. I would take energy out of a circuit at rates of hundreds or thousands of horsepower. In Colorado, I reached 18 million horsepower activities, but that was always by this device: Energy stored in the condenser and discharged in an inconceivably small interval of time. You could not produce that activity with an undamped wave. The damped wave is of advantage because it gives you, with a generator of 1 kilowatt, an activity of 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, or 5,000 kilowatts; whereas, if you have a continuous or undamped wave, 1 kilowatt gives you only wave energy at the rate of 1 kilowatt and nothing more. That is the reason why the system with a quenched gap has become popular.

I have refined this so that I have been able to take energy out of engines by drawing on their momentum. For instance, if the engine is of 200 horsepower, I take the energy out for a minute interval of time, at a rate of 5,000 or 6,000 horsepower, then I store [it] in a condenser and discharge the same at the rate of several millions of horsepower. That is how these wonderful effects are produced. The condenser is the most wonderful instrument, as I have stated in my writings, because it enables us to attain greater activities than are practical with explosives. There is no limit to the energy which you can develop with a condenser. There is a limit to the energy which you can develop with an explosive

Nikola Tesla on his work with alternating currents (https://teslaresearch.jimdofree.com/books-1/nikola-tesla-on-his-work-with-alternating-currents-and-their-application-to-wireless-telegraphy-telephony-and-transmission-of-power-an-extended-interview-leland-i-anderson-editor/)

Good writeup and thankyou for the link. That's a great resource I wasn't aware of.


What would be considered the most technical or difficult aspect of achieving such a limitless supply?

Sourcing the capacitors is no biggie these days

I expect the difficulty lies in tuning the variable caps / resistors precisely?

Or is the transformer the problem? Beta matching everything to within X%?
HV module sets the frequency in the primary iinm .. variac / buck + vzs used to dial power level
Is taking the power off / reading the amps on output the main challenge?

what difficulties are encountered in one of these replications?

As soon as I have a firmer grasp on the basics I will put something together to share & improve.


Don said "You don't need to understand what you're doing to do this" I beg to differ .. lol

Quote from: lou on 2023.05.26, 09:41:38
What would be considered the most technical or difficult aspect of achieving such a limitless supply?

Is taking the power off / reading the amps on output the main challenge?

I think the hardest part is measuring the input and output, especially measuring input power when there are extremely short spikes in power when charging capacitors. Most meters won't react quick enough to measure them, so you might be misled when it shows, say, 25W input power, when it might have spiked to 500W for less than a millisecond.

I think the only way to judge would be to run from a battery, loop the output to charge the input battery and then leave it running while monitoring the battery voltage over time. Either that, or build a system that operates entirely from capacitors and charge the input capacitor once to kick it off. The advantage of this would be no bulky battery required, and it would become apparent whether or not the system was working much sooner, enabling you to rapidly iterate when tuning. If you use power hungry components then you'd need a fairly large input capacitor or supercapacitor. This apparoach wouldn't be compatible with a NST and you'd need to use a battery & inverter set up for that.

I think what it boils down to is - charge a small capacitor to a high voltage using a fairly large resistance to limit current, then use this to charge a larger capacitor to a lower voltage via a coil / inductor (doesn't have to be an air core transformer like Don Smith did). I don't think it requires much current at all to charge a small capacitance. Don Smith used the fact that the secondary coil of a NST is current limited using a magnetic shunt (https://uneonised.com/2017/11/21/all-choked-up/) (gap in core), which enables him to generate a high voltage at low current.

There is another way that I know of that works entirely from capacitors without involving a NST or ZVS. You pump power into a coil, turn it off sharply and then capture the inductive kickback to charge multiple capacitors via diodes. This is the method that John Bedini used. What he found was that you can charge multiple capacitors from the inductive kickback in parallel, where the coil becomes a current source at the point when the power is switched off abruptly. The quicker you turn off power, the quicker the magnetic field collapses, and the larger the kickback voltage will be. The magnetic field collapses at the speed of light, and this cuts through the wires and generates an EMF. The current continues in the same direction except that it is now reverse polarity compared to the original input current. John Bedini uses specially modified transistors to achieve a sharper turn off time. He cut off the tops of TO-3 transistors and connected a 'cat's whisker' wire to the silicon. These days we have super fast SiC MOSFETs capable of switching 2000V with rise & fall times of <5ns.

The design that I'm working on is a hybrid of these two approaches.

- Could consumption not be measured through a quality whr meter, using an electrolytic capacitor to gauge how many joules have left / been "used"  source side then / by the frequency @ oscillator to gauge how much power has been used in x time in x circuit, then compare to the results of a different testing rig on the same device, using the same test for some clarity?

- I found that Julian Perry had a very thorough methodology in his papers on the 5-coiler African generator, which could be applied directly to a Don Smith device and its' unknowns. I too try to think in terms of Joules where I can..

- Single large capacitor would be ideal for a source loop, I don't think anyone is disputing that.

- Smaller is better imo provided ou doesn't only appear at the massive voltages with the extra "elbow room" to work

- I think there are base factors relating John & Dons' work, and many others including Konzen, Bearden, of course Mr Nikola Tesla himself,  comparing their approaches lets one consider the variety of approaches that could be implemented..

- If we could decipher the crux upon which these devices function per say, then the implementation could be done many many ways.. Is it in fact crucial to use any one of these components for this?
Or is some far superior method of storage possible, but yet to be conceived of? (or shared)

- See my playlist "Over Unity" if you have yet to, there's a lot of content that relates to this general "HV OU" stuff.
(Much else too)

:)

I think the only component we really need to be focusing on is the capacitor in two variations working together in unison. A small (pF or nF) input cap at high voltage (2kV+) running at high frequency (20kHz+), feeding a larger (1000uF+) output cap at lower voltage (100V-500V). If lower voltage is used then capacitance needs to be increased to compensate according to E=0.5xCV^2.

I was exchanging emails with Julian Perry and proof read his document before he published it. I'll take another look as I think you're right that we can use his methods to take the right measurements.

If you look at all the OU devices with the capacitor in mind, then you will see that all of them have used capacitor discharge. TH Moray, EV Gray, Tariel Kapanadze, Don Smith, John Bedini, Steven Mark TPU, Stan Meyer water capacitor, Testatika etc.

Tariel Kapanadze said that the secret to his devices was 'so simple you'll laugh' and that a high school student should know about the principle. Charging and discharging a capacitor seems pretty simple to me.

Think about it - increasing voltage is linear, but the power output is the square of the voltage.

100uF at 100V is 0.5J, requiring 0.01C.

100pF (0.0001uF) at 100,000V is 0.5J, requiring 0.00001C.

In the above example the energy stored is the same. Capacitance has decreased 1 million times, voltage has increased only 1,000 times. The coulombs required has decreased by 1,000 times. Coulombs = current in amps. 1 C = 1 A × 1 s.

Some people think that there is also extra potential energy stored in a capacitor that is only seen when disruptively discharging a capacitor using a spark gap or multilayer silicon component (SCR) etc.

Hi Folks,

Regarding input and output measurements, member ION (unfortunately deceased 3 years ago) suggested looping circuit solutions to rule out errors.  You may find useful tips from him to apply to your circuits.

https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=604.0 (https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=604.0)   

https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=452.0 (https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=452.0)

Gyula

Quote from: lfarrand on 2023.05.27, 07:04:34
I think the hardest part is measuring the input and output, especially measuring input power when there are extremely short spikes in power when charging capacitors. Most meters won't react quick enough to measure them, so you might be misled when it shows, say, 25W input power, when it might have spiked to 500W for less than a millisecond.

Hi Lee, 

Would like to mention, that normally the extremely short spikes riding on supply rails in such pulsed circuits carry but a negligible power just because of the very short time they exist.  A spike with a 500 W peak power may have say just under a watt average or mean power.   You could say "many a little makes a mickle" though...  C.C

...

Quote
I think what it boils down to is - charge a small capacitor to a high voltage using a fairly large resistance to limit current, then use this to charge a larger capacitor to a lower voltage via a coil / inductor (doesn't have to be an air core transformer like Don Smith did). I don't think it requires much current at all to charge a small capacitance. Don Smith used the fact that the secondary coil of a NST is current limited using a magnetic shunt (https://uneonised.com/2017/11/21/all-choked-up/) (gap in core), which enables him to generate a high voltage at low current.

There is another way that I know of that works entirely from capacitors without involving a NST or ZVS. You pump power into a coil, turn it off sharply and then capture the inductive kickback to charge multiple capacitors via diodes. This is the method that John Bedini used. What he found was that you can charge multiple capacitors from the inductive kickback in parallel, where the coil becomes a current source at the point when the power is switched off abruptly. The quicker you turn off power, the quicker the magnetic field collapses, and the larger the kickback voltage will be. The magnetic field collapses at the speed of light, and this cuts through the wires and generates an EMF. The current continues in the same direction except that it is now reverse polarity compared to the original input current. John Bedini uses specially modified transistors to achieve a sharper turn off time. He cut off the tops of TO-3 transistors and connected a 'cat's whisker' wire to the silicon. These days we have super fast SiC MOSFETs capable of switching 2000V with rise & fall times of <5ns.

The design that I'm working on is a hybrid of these two approaches.

Well,  would you mind discussing this?  Charging up a given capacitor to a certain voltage level establishes its stored energy, E= C x V² / 2 if you agree.  The charge up time is established by t = R x C.  It is okay that you can take out much more power from this capacitor if you choose the discharge time much smaller than the t charge up time was but the energy remains the one given by the formula, it cannot change.  IT is okay that you can get a very high discharge current from this capacitor for a very short time, the shorter the time the higher the peak current but if the effect of this high peak current does not create something useful to have a kind of "gain", then you are left with the same energy the capacitor have had (minus losses).  And the capacitor has to be charged up periodically of course with energy to have its stored energy which are equal (minus losses) IF there is no "gain". 

The same applies for coils,  they store E = L x I² / 2  this is what you input with your current.  The inductive kickback (a voltage spike) can only include as much energy as the input current has established if you agree.
IT is okay that you can charge multiple capacitors from a coil at field collapse  but the energy content of this field is a given,  meaning the captured energy content of all the capacitors should sum up to the field energy the input current created in the coil (minus losses).   

A small correction if I may,  you wrote:  "The current continues in the same direction except that it is now reverse polarity compared to the original input current." 
  The current will have the same direction and will have the same polarity (not reversed), ok?  What reverses is the polarity of the created voltage spike by the field collapse if we compare its polarity to the input voltage we switched across the coil to start coil current.  The input current creates an increasing magnetic field (till full saturation) and from the switch-off moment the current starts decreasing hence the field decreases too (the direction of induction in the coil changes if you like). 

So if there is no "gain" obtained somehow in such a circuit, then we are left with COP < 1 performance,  IMHO.

Please look at these posts at the other forum where member Mem built a Don Smith-like circuit and asked whether he had ou ?  https://overunity.com/19484/high-amps-from-3-volts-is-this-an-ou-circuit/msg578321/#msg578321 (https://overunity.com/19484/high-amps-from-3-volts-is-this-an-ou-circuit/msg578321/#msg578321)

And I suggested him to attempt looping it, hopefully he will do it.   From his setup, the only hope I can see to have any "gain" (I mention above),  hence a successful looping is if the spark gap attracts free ions, electrons from the air to increase output power hence energy... as turns out maybe happening from one of your links' paper you referred to the other day.

Gyula 

How well would this work as a TF Core?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204118425910

Quote from: lou on 2023.05.27, 21:55:53
How well would this work as a TF Core?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204118425910

Hi lou  (ex Renaissance Rising),

What you mean on TF ?   Maybe Toroidal Ferrite? 

If so,  then it would have a tiny air gap between the facing surfaces of the C cores which a normal toroidal core does not have.  But this may not be necessarily a drawback in most applications, so it depends.
The cores you linked to seems to be scavenged from television line output transformers, operational frequency was around 15-17 kHz,  and around 25-35 kHz if they served in computer monitors. 

Gyula

Hi lou,

Referring to the "Tiny Generator"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKZEoL5zvFU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKZEoL5zvFU)  circuit, you wrote this:

Quote from: lou on 2023.05.27, 20:20:15
The 1N5408's are on the "negative" side of the coil, cathode toward the coil..
So I reckon that flyback "travels the same way" as the current used to invoke it. (provided a return to source is present)

But a return to the source (which is the 12 V drive battery) is not present from the flyback pulse point of view: the IRF840 is switched off and the HV spike appears across the coil i.e. between the Drain of the MOSFET and the positive rail of the 12 V drive battery. And the polarity of the spike would be the opposite of that of the drive battery because the spike would have its positive peak appear on the Drain pin end of the coil and its negative polarity would be on the positive 12 V drive battery rail.
So what was written in the text as the "charging current also passes through the 12 V drive battery" is not correct.

Note that the mentioned 600 V spike amplitudes could happen when the 3x 12 V charge batteries would not be connected, this situation should be avoided because the 500 V rated MOSFET switch could burn from the 600 V spikes. Under the normal charging operation the 600 V spikes are clamped by the 3 series batteries to below 40 V or so and the voltage difference provides their charging current.

Would like to show you a video where the flyback pulse was also said to be charging back the 2 input batteries. The original claim was that in case a coil is added in series with a resistive heater element and the current is switched on and off for the heater, then the flyback energy from the coil is recovered at the drive batteries in the circuit shown in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYW_TYIBkgA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYW_TYIBkgA)

Please read the long comment from "Infineon Experiments" under the video, starting with "This circuit cannot recharge the batteries as the potential difference of RL is shunted across D1. All of the energy stored in the magnetic field will be dissipated in D1 and RL."

Gyula   

Quote from: gyula on 2023.05.27, 16:57:00
Well,  would you mind discussing this?  Charging up a given capacitor to a certain voltage level establishes its stored energy, E= C x V² / 2 if you agree.  The charge up time is established by t = R x C.

I'll put something together to try to explain my point of view about this when I have 30 mins spaqre, but I think we're going to need to go a bit 'off piste' with my explanation because it doesn't follow conventional thinking.

Quote from: gyula on 2023.05.27, 16:57:00
A small correction if I may,  you wrote:  "The current continues in the same direction except that it is now reverse polarity compared to the original input current."
  The current will have the same direction and will have the same polarity (not reversed), ok?  What reverses is the polarity of the created voltage spike by the field collapse if we compare its polarity to the input voltage we switched across the coil to start coil current.  The input current creates an increasing magnetic field (till full saturation) and from the switch-off moment the current starts decreasing hence the field decreases too (the direction of induction in the coil changes if you like).

Of course, you are right. I was thinking about voltage only when I mentioned about the polarity.

Quote from: gyula
The inductive kickback (a voltage spike) can only include as much energy as the input current has established if you agree.
IT is okay that you can charge multiple capacitors from a coil at field collapse  but the energy content of this field is a given,  meaning the captured energy content of all the capacitors should sum up to the field energy the input current created in the coil (minus losses).

Imagine you had 2 coils (L1 & L2) in separate circuits, with L2 wound over L1. L2 has a diode in it's circuit such that it opposed the creation of the magnetic field from L1. If a current was passed through L1 then it would create a magnetic field, but L2 would not do anything because of the action of the diode. Lets say that the current in L1 is now interrupted. L2 would now conduct from the collapsing magnetic field because the diode is no longer reverse biased.

I think it is well understood that a magnetic field cannot be shielded by any material presently known to man. With this in mind, what would happen if we had more coil & diode circuits similar to L2? Would the magnetic field somehow weaken due to the presence of these additional coils?


Hector (of EV Gray Yahoo group fame) said this (somewhat cryptically if I must say so!):

Quote
Capacity value  Must be decreased. With frequency  increase ...... as is inverse to impedance increase with frequency .

I think what he means is that if you are increasing frequency, then you can decrease capacitance and still maintain the same energy output.

I found the following quotes about the EV Gray motor quite interesting.

Quote
The development of high voltage (2000 to 3000 volts) D.C. power for operation of the E.M.S. motor incorporates a specialized high efficiency, high frequency inverter developed by EVGRAG ENTERPRISES. The operating frequency is 6000 cycles as compared to the 60 cycle line power or A.C.
...
EVGRAY ENTERPRISES
Signed: Richard Hackenberger.

From http://www.tuks.nl/wiki/index.php/Main/ColeHackenbergerPowerSupply

Quote
As Lens activated the battery, a voltmeter gradually rose to 3,000 volts, At that point, Gray closed a switch and there was a loud popping sound. The top magnet hurled into the air with tremendous force and was caught by Hackenberger. A terrific jolt of electricity had propelled the top magnet more than two feet into the air --- but the magnet remained cold.

"The amazing thing", Hackenberger said, "is that only 1% of the energy was used --- 99% went back into the battery."

Gray explained, "The battery can last for a long time, because most of the energy returns to it. The secret to this is in the capacitors and in being able to split the positive."

From http://www.rexresearch.com/evgray/1gray.htm

So, this is what I'm thinking.

If you 'compress' a wave by doubling the frequency and amplitude, then the energy of that wave increases with the square of the amplitude, so the energy is quadrupled.

QuoteThe energy transported by a wave is directly proportional to the square of the amplitude. So whatever change occurs in the amplitude, the square of that effect impacts the energy. This means that a doubling of the amplitude results in a quadrupling of the energy.

From https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/waves/Lesson-2/Energy-Transport-and-the-Amplitude-of-a-Wave

Here's a chart I put together in Excel to illustrate. It shows 3 waves - a reference point (1Hz) and then a doubling of the frequency and amplitude of wave 1 (2Hz) and another doubling of the frequency and amplitude of wave 2 (4Hz).

You can see how the energy increases dramatically with every doubling of the amplitude.

(https://i.ibb.co/zm16z5F/Wave-energy-graph-1-Hz-2-Hz-3-Hz.png) (https://ibb.co/x2yFNsY)

In a 'disruptive discharge' of a capacitor it stands to reason that the energy of the capacitor will be discharged in an extremely small time period. This causes a wave of large amplitude in a short period of time. If you discharged the same energy over a longer time period then the amplitude of the wave would be smaller, and therefore the energy will be lower accordingly.

My theory is that if you discharge a capacitor in a small time period, and do this at high frequency, then the energy produced will be much more than if you did the same over a longer period at a lower frequency.

This calls for a device split into two halves that works at two frequencies. The generator frequency and the output frequency. The generator frequency should be much higher than the output frequency. Referencing Hector's post about reducing capacity when frequency increases, the generator capacitor should have a small capacitance. The output capacitor should be discharged at a lower frequency and therefore should have a large capacitance.

Here is a rough sketch of what I'm thinking:

(https://i.ibb.co/cwwGdJV/Generator-Circuit-Small.png) (https://ibb.co/RNNxW2d)

For the output part, I am going to step down the voltage using a capacitor divider transformer. I'm going to do this using a series charging & parallel discharging arrangement.

Example:

Take 10x 100uf 1000V capacitors.

Arranging them in series raises the max voltage to 10kV, but reduces the total capacitance from 1000uF to 10uF. Each individual capacitor can hold 100uF @ 1000V when charged at 10kV in series. The stored charge is 0.1C and the stored energy is 500J.

Once charged, switch from series to parallel.

Arranging them in parallel gives you 10x 100uF charged to 1000V, each having a stored charge of 0.1C and 50J stored energy, giving a total of 1C and 500J.

Now discharge the capacitors in parallel through the load.

Notice that the charge increased by 10x when switching from series to parallel.

QuoteThe SI defines the coulomb in terms of the ampere and second: 1 C = 1 A × 1 s.

1 Coulomb is 1 ampere-second (1 C = 1 A.s)
1 amp = 1 Coulombs per Second (1 A = 1 C/s)

If the charge (in Coulombs) increases, then is this not a current amplifier?

The number of capacitors determines the multiplication factor.

Golden research material ! Thankyou for sharing. Circuit diagram looks great.

I would like to lay it out in such a way that every component is easily accessible, as simple and neat as possible, for ultimate clarity. Similar to what Don did but more compact. In a small steamer trunk or similar.
Gather and optimize all components according to the plan prior to installation, then tweak "in situ"

Independently powered, galvanically isolated, non contact probes / meters throughout to avoid any interference.

This is how I imagine going about it anyway.. "Corner the variables" and eliminate guesswork wherever possible

Aim for a loop right off the bat - seems the most direct way to start and "kills 2 birds with one stone" so to speak
Why wouldn't that be the first priority if such a thing can at all be achieved?

Quote from: lou on 2023.05.30, 12:31:57
I would like to lay it out in such a way that every component is easily accessible, as simple and neat as possible, for ultimate clarity.

Aim for a loop right off the bat - seems the most direct way to start and "kills 2 birds with one stone" so to speak
Why wouldn't that be the first priority if such a thing can at all be achieved?

Yep, total clarity and transparency is what I'm aiming for. Leave no doubt in the minds of people wanting to replicate, if it comes to that. I'll list all components with part numbers etc.

I'm designing my system to be looped from the get go. As you say, it kills two birds with one stone and if it did work then it would provide validation that the system is OU.

I forgot to include the looping part in my circuit diagram. I'll revise it to add some circuit elements to provide energy to the main capacitor to recharge from the output. The battery and step up circuit is only designed to be used once to start the device. I guess you could replace that with a hand crank generator (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Generator-Portable-Emergency-Survival-Activities/dp/B07WVD6VWB/ref=psdc_11714761_t1_B08BJTLM4F) or small solar panel (https://www.amazon.co.uk/sourcing-map-Module-Polysilicon-Charger/dp/B07JMVNRP3/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=small+solar+panel&qid=1685451080&sr=8-6) if absolutely no battery power was desired.

Quote from: lfarrand on 2023.05.29, 21:52:49
...
Imagine you had 2 coils (L1 & L2) in separate circuits, with L2 wound over L1. L2 has a diode in it's circuit such that it opposed the creation of the magnetic field from L1. If a current was passed through L1 then it would create a magnetic field, but L2 would not do anything because of the action of the diode. Lets say that the current in L1 is now interrupted. L2 would now conduct from the collapsing magnetic field because the diode is no longer reverse biased.
...

Is this what you mean?
The attached pdf file might be useful.

Quote from: Cadman on 2023.05.30, 14:31:40
Is this what you mean?
The attached pdf file might be useful.

Yes, exactly that. A flyback transformer, except with more than one secondary. Maybe air core rather than ferrite. What would happen?

What would happen depends on how the circuit is set up and operated.
The flyback winding will provide some extra when used in a circuit like you proposed, especially when the primary excitation current is not wasted to ground.

For example, I did this experiment before finding the pdf attached in my last post, so the trafo wasn't properly designed as a flyback type. Still, after correcting for actual measured cap capacitances it showed apparent Cop ~ 2. But take note of the long time for the charge to accumulate, about 220 ms. I think this was due to my amateur design and the subject needs further exploration.

See https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=4295.msg99383#msg99383

Here is my revised circuit with looping.

(https://i.ibb.co/2gB5Gyk/Generator-Circuit-with-looping.png) (https://ibb.co/GcjFz05)

Ifarrand

QuoteImagine you had 2 coils (L1 & L2) in separate circuits, with L2 wound over L1. L2 has a diode in it's circuit such that it opposed the creation of the magnetic field from L1. If a current was passed through L1 then it would create a magnetic field, but L2 would not do anything because of the action of the diode. Lets say that the current in L1 is now interrupted. L2 would now conduct from the collapsing magnetic field because the diode is no longer reverse biased.

I think it is well understood that a magnetic field cannot be shielded by any material presently known to man. With this in mind, what would happen if we had more coil & diode circuits similar to L2? Would the magnetic field somehow weaken due to the presence of these additional coils?

I found it's normally a catch 22 scenario.

If we use let's say 6 air coils the induction is weaker in each coil because the magnetic field is reduced following the inverse square law. If we use 6 iron cores the source field is concentrated in each core but each is less than 1/6th the source field. That's only the start and the moment each coil starts conducting a current it's field opposes the field which induced it.

I found there are other possibilities falling outside the normal process of induction. Here one has to understand the process of induction well enough to know it's limitations. For example, the energy transferred by mutual induction is solely defined by the rate of change and magnitude of the source field. This is dependent on the rate of change of the source current. This is how all mutual induction normally works.

However if the primary source current established a changing magnetic field coupled with the secondary. Then as the primary field collapsed it used this energy to enter a superconductive state this is a different scenario. Super conduction doesn't attract/repel magnetic fields it expels all magnetism. Now were talking about an already established magnetic field being displaced by a third force changing the total rate of change. In effect, we don't simply expand and contract the fields which normally happens in mutual induction but expand and displace them.

Realistically, all we have to do is understand exactly how mutual induction works and then not do that. Do not do or allow what should normally happen to take place. By changing the rules we change the process and the rate of energy transfer.

AC

Quote from: Cadman on 2023.05.30, 15:44:28
What would happen depends on how the circuit is set up and operated.
The flyback winding will provide some extra when used in a circuit like you proposed, especially when the primary excitation current is not wasted to ground.

For example, I did this experiment before finding the pdf attached in my last post, so the trafo wasn't properly designed as a flyback type. Still, after correcting for actual measured cap capacitances it showed apparent Cop ~ 2. But take note of the long time for the charge to accumulate, about 220 ms. I think this was due to my amateur design and the subject needs further exploration.

See https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=4295.msg99383#msg99383

Thanks Cadman. I just read your thread and it sounds very intruiging. Did you get any further beyond the last post in the thread?

Yes, I played with the circuit configuration and tried to take the energy off the end like your schematic does, in principle anyway but not with the same circuit arrangement. It also had several cheap digital current & voltage sensors hooked up to the input and outputs with the load being a 12Vdc motor and they clearly showed an apparent OU happening. Not having a good scope at the time I was ready to replace the digital meters with analog meters when the circuit blew up all the fets, again. Disgusted with my lack of solid state abilities, it's been shelved until I get better with electronics.

But, the experience was educational and well worth the effort. Now I know for sure that 'more out than in' is possible with a pulsed flyback transformer as an energy multiplier just by not throwing away the primary impulse out of the trafo but combining it with the secondary instead.

In general it looks like you have the same sort of idea and I hope you can do much better using your superior skills.
I wish you all the success in the world with it.

Hi Lee,

Thanks for your answers and the interesting pieces of information.

I am open to accept "rules bending or violation" but to change my views it needs facts and so far I have not come across nor seen any 100% convincing results that prove
a device can self run (its output is looped back to its input) or correct measurements are done on it.

I agree with Allcanadian on the limitations of mutual coupling but no idea how he means the superconductive state,  at what cost a third force is created to displace the collapsing field.   Nevertheless, it sounds interesting.

I used to follow Hector's posts in the early yahoo EVGray forum and certainly many useful info were shared on making 3 phase motors run from single phase by using
capacitors (and other components).  Off the shelf 5 or 6 HP motors were able to run with 10 -20 W input power but the moment the motor shaft was loaded,
the initial low input power (achieved by motor coils tuning and phase shift) went up while RPM went down with low torque remaining, this is what I can recall. Maybe I do not remember well.

You refer to this link https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/waves/Lesson-2/Energy-Transport-and-the-Amplitude-of-a-Wave (https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/waves/Lesson-2/Energy-Transport-and-the-Amplitude-of-a-Wave)  and you quoted this from it:
"The energy transported by a wave is directly proportional to the square of the amplitude. So whatever change occurs in the amplitude,  the square of that effect impacts the energy. This means that a doubling of the amplitude results in a quadrupling of the energy."

This sounds very good but let me note: in my understanding it is you who has to provide energy (i.e. it costs you) to increase the amplitude of a wave i.e. its energy.  Is not energy conserved here?
IF not, where would the extra come from?   I do not think the writer of the above link on energy transport and wave amplitude supposed the amplitude doubles by itself? 

But I do encourage you to carry on and if I can help I will do of course.

Gyula

Quote from: Cadman on 2023.05.30, 19:12:44
Yes, I played with the circuit configuration and tried to take the energy off the end like your schematic does, in principle anyway but not with the same circuit arrangement. It also had several cheap digital current & voltage sensors hooked up to the input and outputs with the load being a 12Vdc motor and they clearly showed an apparent OU happening. Not having a good scope at the time I was ready to replace the digital meters with analog meters when the circuit blew up all the fets, again. Disgusted with my lack of solid state abilities, it's been shelved until I get better with electronics.

But, the experience was educational and well worth the effort. Now I know for sure that 'more out than in' is possible with a pulsed flyback transformer as an energy multiplier just by not throwing away the primary impulse out of the trafo but combining it with the secondary instead.

In general it looks like you have the same sort of idea and I hope you can do much better using your superior skills.
I wish you all the success in the world with it.

I'm glad to hear to you have had some promising results with your set up, it gives others encouragement that there is an achievable goal at the end.

I was an electronics novice 18 months ago, but took the opportunity during lock down and used the extra time I had working from home to get stuck into electronics & PCB design and learn everything from scratch. I mean everything! I remember reading Patrick Kelly's A Practical Guide to 'Free-Energy' Devices and wondering what everything meant. What's a diode, what's a transistor and so on. It was completely foreign to me and very difficult at first, but slowly over time I began to understand the various components and what they did.

Most things in life are generally achievable through hard work, perseverance and tenacity, so please don't give up on electronics just yet.

I'm doing this for us all. Any success I might have is everyone's success. I'm standing on the shoulders of giants.

Quote from: gyula on 2023.05.30, 20:10:54
I am open to accept "rules bending or violation" but to change my views it needs facts and so far I have not come across nor seen any 100% convincing results that prove
a device can self run (its output is looped back to its input) or correct measurements are done on it.

I absolutely agree with you there. I wouldn't hope to attempt to change someone's mind on the established status quo without some compelling evidence (that has been peer reviewed) to support my claim. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence as someone once said. That's why I'm so keen to get measurements correct so that I don't go down any blind alleys.

Quote from: gyula
This sounds very good but let me note: in my understanding it is you who has to provide energy (i.e. it costs you) to increase the amplitude of a wave i.e. its energy.  Is not energy conserved here?
IF not, where would the extra come from?   I do not think the writer of the above link on energy transport and wave amplitude supposed the amplitude doubles by itself? 

If the source (coil or capacitor) is disconnected from the supply at the point of discharge then is this still the case? Do we still pay for the extra energy released in a shorter, sharper discharge? The way I see it is that we accumulate energy in a capacitor over time and then discharge it all at once. Tesla pointed out the similarity in action with that of a pile driver.

When a lawyer asked him during an interview in 1916 if the effects "depend upon the suddenness of the discharge", he replied:

QuoteYes. It is merely the electrical analogue of a pile driver or a hammer. You accumulate energy through a long distance and then you deliver it with a tremendous suddenness. The distance through which the mass moves is small—the pressure immense.

Here are some other relevant Tesla quotes:

QuoteThe effects which are produced by currents which rise instantly to high values, as in a disruptive discharge, are entirely different from those produced by dynamo currents which rise and fall harmonically.

QuoteThe general plan is to charge condensers [capacitors], from a direct or alternate-current source, preferably of high-tension [high voltage], and to discharge them disruptively while observing well-known conditions necessary to maintain the oscillations of the current [resonance].

QuoteI charged the condenser with 40,000 volts. When it was charged full, I discharged it suddenly, through a short circuit which gave me a very rapid rate of oscillation. Let us suppose that I had stored in the condenser 10 watts. Then, for such a wave there is a flux of energy of (4 x 104)2, and this is multiplied by the frequency of 100,000. You see, it may go into thousands or millions of horsepower.

I found this site really quite enlightening: https://waveguide.blog. This article in particular: https://waveguide.blog/teslas-spark-gaps-literature-review/

Quote from: gyula
But I do encourage you to carry on and if I can help I will do of course.

Thank you for your kind words and support. I'm very greatful for the help and advice that you've given me so far.

Hi Lee,

You wrote:

Quote"If the source (coil or capacitor) is disconnected from the supply at the point of discharge then is this still the case?
Do we still pay for the extra energy released in a shorter, sharper discharge?"

Yes, unfortunately it is still the case. To increase the amplitude of a wave to increase its energy, you have to invest energy. The very high spike amplitude
created across a coil at the current switch-off moment  or the very high current coming from the sudden discharge of a capacitor is still the case because the increase of
the amplitudes is involved in a short time and energy is power times time.  I.e. even if the hugh spike (or current) would create high power in a load it would be
peak power lasting for a short time.
No extra energy can be released in such processes: how would energy release extra energy?  The process involved in fission or fusion
reactions can release energy but the atomic structure of the materials involved changes. Or during transmutation, energy is also released but none of these processes is
involved here.

The quote from Tesla includes answer too: 
"It is merely the electrical analogue of a pile driver or a hammer. You accumulate energy through a long distance and then you deliver it with a tremendous suddenness.
The distance through which the mass moves is small—the pressure immense."

He spoke about the same energy applied within a shorter time.
Putting this otherwise: he charged up a capacitor from a generator using certain power,  it involved a certain generator voltage, and charging time, (the latter was established by the capacitor value and by all the resistances involved inside the charging circuit). The power times the charging time established a certain stored energy. Then the power invested was released in a very short time: the shorter the time the higher the power was available.

You quoted Tesla further on:

"I charged the condenser with 40,000 volts. When it was charged full, I discharged it suddenly, through a short circuit which gave me a very rapid rate of oscillation.
Let us suppose that I had stored in the condenser 10 watts. Then, for such a wave there is a flux of energy of (4 x 104)2, and this is multiplied by the frequency
of 100,000. You see, it may go into thousands or millions of horsepower."

Well, horsepower is power, not energy...  He did not say he multiplied energy, he multiplied power. Unfortunately a big difference.

This is how I understand Tesla.  I respect your or anyone's opinion if it is different.

Gyula

"It is merely the electrical analogue of a pile driver or a hammer. You accumulate energy through a long distance and then you deliver it with a tremendous suddenness.
The distance through which the mass moves is small—the pressure immense."

I really like that quote .. as a species, our brains have evolved a relatively firm grasp on mechanical concepts, by any reckoning, through necessity

I suspect that's why Tesla would explain it that way, so his audience might have a hope of understanding.

If it's appropriate to metaphorize / apply a physical 3D analogy to a given electrical phenomenon as is often done, then surely some comparable mechanism exists in the tangible, observable world that we could model a circuit like this directly off?

Don Smith gave his thoughts on electron spin in the "Tesla Symosium" (Not sure of the no.) - that happens regardless of our actions - as does the earth spin (a cliché statement, I know)
As will a brass door handle in an old house shock you with no readily apparent reason besides that of someones' "yeah don't you know about static electricity??" Well it seems no one really knows how that charge got there..
Please do correct me if I am mistaken.

I have read / heard that the capacitor is all that's important .. This could be made to work with just a capacitor?
Not sure what to make of that but it's relevant for sure?

We know higher voltage and higher frequency usually yields more exciting results in any HV experiment, and lower current draw is always a primary goal too; I personally am most interested in finding what exact and specific part of Don's system allowed the "pumping" to occur.

I will have to watch through those Don Smith interviews again soon.
I think he left us just about enough to make something work, and like others, see the resemblance in other "Radiant energy" devices.

The terminology used by different inventors / developers makes matters all the more confusing IMO.
Hence the need for analogizing  .. A very powerful mental tool imo

I've been busy building a bunch of MOSFET driver PCBs. It's surprising how much of a time sink it is soldering components to a board!

I'm aiming for 2000V operating voltage / 1MHz frequency for the front end / generator part of the system, and 240V / 50Hz for the output.

To this end I'm going to use:

• 1x driver board with a 2000V, 0.075Ω, 34A cont., 74A peak MOSFET for the front end of the system
• 1x driver board with a 2000V, 0.075Ω, 34A cont., 74A peak MOSFET for the looping / recharge part of the system
• 2x driver board with a 2000V, 0.024Ω, 89A cont., 189A peak MOSFET for the output part of the system

The output part will handle 378kW (!) peak (2000 x 189). That's pretty scary, but in the context of EV chargers it's in the same ballpark. Tesla superchargers max out at 250kW currently.

The front end / generator part will discharge 4x 6.8nF (27.2nF) silver mica capacitors in parallel into the output capacitor (500uF) via a low self inductance coil (size TBD). I might not need the FWBR, but might add it in to harvest / snub the inductive kickback.

The output MOSFET switches will discharge the output capacitor into an isolation transformer 50 times per second, which will step down the voltage from 2000V to 240V, and raise the current by 8.33x. The output will be a pure sine wave which will be generated by the Arduino using an sPWM algorithm (https://github.com/Irev-Dev/Arduino-Atmel-sPWM).

That's the plan anyway. There are still plenty of unknowns so this isn't set in stone and is subject to change as I develop a better understanding.

Awesome - please keep us updated. Wishing you great success 

I forgot to add that the TO-247 MOSFETs are limited to around 70A in practise due to the leads. Any higher and they would melt.

I'm not entirely sure why MOSFET manufacturers list amps in excess of the package limit.

I've got a small update. I finally finished the MOSFET driver boards and assembled the other discrete parts of the system. I just need to connect them together.

(https://i.ibb.co/pbxF9QW/IMG-5149.jpg) (https://ibb.co/17LWwMs)

(https://i.ibb.co/yqf09GY/IMG-5176.jpg) (https://ibb.co/2dnq9ms)

I assembled a 27.3nF capacitor from 4x 2000V 6.8pF silver mica Soviet capacitors.

(https://i.ibb.co/GkfrMZF/IMG-5179.jpg) (https://ibb.co/J2WSpYC)

(https://i.ibb.co/88Qs48B/IMG-5178.jpg) (https://ibb.co/124QJ2n)

I formed a low inductance, low resistance coil from 10mm copper pipe. This was my first copper pipe coil and I did it by filling it with salt and taping up the ends, before rolling it around a cardboard tube former. It turned out pretty well, although there is one small kink, but it shouldn't affect performance.

The inductance is 140nH, but you can adjust it by moving the output connection point. I'm aiming for ~0.93nH, because when combined with a 27.3nF capacitor that gives a 1MHz resonant frequency which is the frequency that I'm aiming to run the system at.

(https://i.ibb.co/sVbK61j/IMG-5184.jpg) (https://ibb.co/rwFxcpk)

I assembled the brain of the device using a Teensy 4.1 running Arduino.

(https://i.ibb.co/7KM3Wp3/IMG-5177.jpg) (https://ibb.co/M7wzV1z)

I spent the best part of 2 days hacking together the PWM code using hardware PWM timers. There are a bunch of limitations around these timers that weren't super obvious initially. There are limitations to the pins used (some use the SD card pins, so aren't easily accessible), frequencies can't be different across sub-modules, different modules can't be easily synchronized etc.

In the end I've nearly got there. I have 3 distinct PWM outputs operating at different frequencies and duty cycles. The first two are synchronized and have a 50ns dead time period between PWM1 fall & PWM2 rise and PWM2 fall & PWM1 rise to prevent both being turned on at the same time. They operate at 1MHz. The third one is the output stage and that runs at 50Hz.

Here are some scope shots of the wave forms for PWM1 (discharge, yellow) & PWM2 (recharge, blue).

1MHz

(https://i.ibb.co/m5zmnkP/IMG-5185.jpg) (https://ibb.co/JjkNYVS)

(https://i.ibb.co/ZMZtRwS/IMG-5187.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7198xTQ)

(https://i.ibb.co/bHdGszh/IMG-5186.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GsPrWcw)

10kHz

(https://i.ibb.co/kQf3T7k/IMG-5188.jpg) (https://ibb.co/D5yGFJs)

The pulse gets a bit distorted as the frequency increases, so I've included a shot running at 10kHz to better illustrate the wave forms.

PWM1 is simply a 10% duty cycle pulse.

The PWM2 wave form was the trickiest to implement because I had to use a 90% duty cycle and then invert that on channel B to get a 10% duty cycle with the pulse at the end.

Hi Lee,

You have been doing awesome work!

It is very good that the copper pipe coil has extra self inductance so that with the use of the 27.3 nF capacitor assembly you will surely find resonance at 1 MHz by moving the coil connection point (it would be around 930 nH inductance https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/tank-circuit-resonance-calculator/ (https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/tank-circuit-resonance-calculator/)   but when you couple it to another coil,  resonance will need little readjusting as you surely know).

Hopefully the resonant peak voltage across the paralleled capacitors will not exceed their rated 2000 V breakdown voltage. Normally such capacitors can withstand little higher than their rated specification but not too far. The resonant current will be enormous too.

Regarding the distorted pulse, it will surely get restored to sharp rectangular waveforms via the MOSFET driver ICs. Regarding the driver ICs, they may have develop excess heat at the 1 MHz switching frequency, you are surely aware of this.

Thanks for showing your progress.

Gyula

Quote from: gyula on 2023.06.07, 09:53:00
Hi Lee,

You have been doing awesome work!

It is very good that the copper pipe coil has extra self inductance so that with the use of the 27.3 nF capacitor assembly you will surely find resonance at 1 MHz by moving the coil connection point (it would be around 930 nH inductance https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/tank-circuit-resonance-calculator/ (https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/tank-circuit-resonance-calculator/)   but when you couple it to another coil,  resonance will need little readjusting as you surely know).

Hopefully the resonant peak voltage across the paralleled capacitors will not exceed their rated 2000 V breakdown voltage. Normally such capacitors can withstand little higher than their rated specification but not too far. The resonant current will be enormous too.

Regarding the distorted pulse, it will surely get restored to sharp rectangular waveforms via the MOSFET driver ICs. Regarding the driver ICs, they may have develop excess heat at the 1 MHz switching frequency, you are surely aware of this.

Thanks for showing your progress.

Gyula

Hi Gyula,

Thanks! Yes I'd noticed that the gate driver ICs got quite hot at high frequencies, so my plan is to mount some 140mm computer fans to the sides of the MOSFET stack in a push/pull arrangement. I was toying with the idea of mounting mini heatsinks on the tops of the gate driver ICs, but I'm not sure if this would compromise the low/high voltage isolation by providing a bridge over which high voltage might travel across. It's a big enough problem that PCBs have slots drilled out to reduce this risk, so I think adding a heatsink might add another plane for the voltage to travel over.

I'm not sure what to expect when running the system at it's resonant frequency. I'm aiming to cancel out capacitive and inductive reactance, and be left with only DC resistance. In a series resonant arrangement the voltage will rise, so I need to be mindful of this and protect the MOSFETs, capacitors and diodes from an overvoltage situation.

Also, small correction: when I said 4x 2000V 6.8pF, I meant 4x 2000V 6.8nF (6800pF).

Hi Lee,

Yes, the distances count a lot at higher voltage levels and a protruding metal surface may reduce sparking-distance. Hopefully the air blowers will help reduce heat on the driver ICs.

It would be a good approach to start the tests with a much reduced supply voltage for the switching MOSFETs, and doing initial tunings and check voltage peaks with a HV probe if you have such. And then increase supply voltage gradually and doing fine tuning accordingly.

At resonance, the reactive voltage across the L and C and the current will be at its maximum values and may change drastically during the tuning in any direction, so doing small steps at a time is a good approach.

Yes, I noticed the 6.8 pF typo, and it did not cause confusion, a coil like you made should need several  nF capacitor to make the circuit resonate at 1 MHz (namely 27.3 nF).   8)  The 2 kV limit remains, unfortunately for the paralleled caps, hopefully it will be enough.

Gyula

Are you building the circuit as you showed here: https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=4467.msg104929#msg104929  (https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=4467.msg104929#msg104929)   ?

ADDITION   You wrote:  "...(you) have a 50ns dead time period between PWM1 fall & PWM2 rise and PWM2 fall & PWM1 rise to prevent both being turned on at the same time. "

Can you vary the dead time to decrease or maybe increase it if needed ?  Just to find the best adjustment possible, the MOSFETs rise and fall time specifications have a certain range and it is better to have means for some correction.

Quote from: gyula on 2023.06.07, 12:50:43
Are you building the circuit as you showed here: https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=4467.msg104929#msg104929  (https://www.overunityresearch.com/index.php?topic=4467.msg104929#msg104929)   ?

ADDITION   You wrote:  "...(you) have a 50ns dead time period between PWM1 fall & PWM2 rise and PWM2 fall & PWM1 rise to prevent both being turned on at the same time. "

Can you vary the dead time to decrease or maybe increase it if needed ?  Just to find the best adjustment possible, the MOSFETs rise and fall time specifications have a certain range and it is better to have means for some correction.

Yes I'm building that circuit with a few adjustments. For example, the FWBR as drawn won't work because the primary capacitor will simply drain into the output cap directly. I need to think about how to stop that happening and only make the FWBR active after the primary cap has discharged.

And yes, the dead time is configurable. It can be anything you want, so long as dead time + pulse time are less than the period length.

I've revised my circuit to fix the FWBR problem, and also replaced the manual startup process with an automated solution so that things can be coordinated.

(https://i.ibb.co/M6KJ30R/Generator-Circuit-with-looping-revised-8-June-2023.png) (https://ibb.co/RytJVwC)

Hi Lee,

Maybe your tests will show as a no problem,  I would mention the secondary coil of the step up transformer is always in parallel with C1 as you drew, so the winding resistance may discharge C1 rapidly after the charge is done, In fact the coil may form an LC circuit with C1 and the input charge would oscillate between them till full ring down. 

All I mean is that the charge you initially input to C1 may be dissipated unwantedly in a quicker way via the secondary coil than it would in case the secondary coil would be separated from C1 just after the charge up process.
Note that the flyback spike the 9V also creates across the step up transformer primary coil would also be transformed by the secondary coil with its own polarity (the polarity the 9V battery establishes during the on time of Q1 will be "overwritten" by the much higher opposing flyback spike).

I do not have a simple solution yet, will be thinking on this.  You may wish to avoid pushing once a simple push button which would charge up C1 from a HV DC source and then you release the button (at 2000 V level this may be cumbersome).  Maybe with a mechanical relay the push button could be replaced?

Gyula

Thanks for your feedback Gyula, you make an important point. I hadn't considered that the charge in C1 might dissipate in the windings of the transformer. This is actually a harder problem than it originally appeared to be. The devil is in the detail as they say! Only having a small capacitance really constrains the time window within which I can charge and discharge C1 at start up, otherwise the charge leaks out.

Do you think adding a diode might help? It would enforce the unidirectional flow of current from the step up transformer secondary and prevent the secondary and C1 from forming an LC circuit.

I also did some more research into the current handling capabilities of TO-247 MOSFETs and found that my original assumption that they were limited to 70A is not correct. It depends on the resistance and how quickly you can dissipate heat. In addition, the bonding between the package and silicon die is the weakest link, not the leads as I had originally thought.

It turns out that Infineon use something called .XT interconnection technology (https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/technology/.xt/), where they bond the die to the package using a diffusion soldering process in order to reduce the thickness of the solder layer. This results in a higher current carrying capability and lower operating temperatures.

I've soldered thick tracks to the MOSFET leads and they're mounted to heatsinks which will be actively cooled by fans. I'm hoping this arrangement will allow heat to dissipate quicker. When I was soldering the tracks they were doing a good job of dissipating the 300°C from the soldering iron.

I think it's safe to assume that the current ratings on the datasheets are achievable, so long as the heat is dissipated quickly.

nice. we need power mosfet of really low Rds according to Ismael Aviso. Did you managed to work with mosfets in Mhz range effectively ?

Quote from: lfarrand on 2023.06.09, 04:48:15

...
Do you think adding a diode might help? It would enforce the unidirectional flow of current from the step up transformer secondary and prevent the secondary and C1 from forming an LC circuit.

Hi Lee,

Well,  perhaps the simplest solution for isolating the secondary coil of the transformer from the capacitor C1 in your schematic would be to use a GDT in series with the coil (instead of a diode) which fires around 1800- 2000 V and could charge up C1 when fires once. 

All the initial charging circuit you show around the 9 V battery would remain as is, except for this suggestion: connect a diode in series with the 9 V battery with a polarity to conduct when the MOSFET is ON, this way the flyback spike of the 9 V coil would be blocked to reach the MOSFET. 

Regrading the use of a diode in series with the secondary coil I am not sure it would give good isolation.

If you agree to use a GDT, see this link: https://www.littelfuse.com/products/gas-discharge-tubes/high-voltage-gdt.aspx (https://www.littelfuse.com/products/gas-discharge-tubes/high-voltage-gdt.aspx) 

Perhaps it would be wise to start the tests at a much lower than 2 kV, to prevent the expensive components from getting smoked. (This would involve to have GDTs at that lower voltage levels too, https://www.littelfuse.com/products/gas-discharge-tubes/medium-to-high-surge-gdt.aspx (https://www.littelfuse.com/products/gas-discharge-tubes/medium-to-high-surge-gdt.aspx) )

Gyula 

Just thought I'd add this for what it's worth:

Would it be a good idea to use a peltier module on each FET?
It'd also require thermal pads/paste, oil, pump, good fans and a decent size "water block" (+ a stable DC supply)
But this could be a good way to keep temps under 175°c (Rule of thumb for FET's iinm)

Then use a laser temp gun to probe hotspots mid operation

I imagine them being powered separately to the device itself, for clarity (until loop is achieved)

I'm still educating myself on the principles involved so can't add much technically speaking for now,
But I can vouch for these being an effective (if inefficient) solution to thermal issues I have encountered.

There is of course the Delta T within the switching devices in mention, to be observed,
And the fact that these things can generate a considerable amount of condensation,
But the only other option I see to do this would be to gut a small fridge and adapt the innards..
(Tough job to do without venting the pressure. Requires a recovery unit etc, etc,)

But you could then stop worrying about melting expensive hardware
or at least mitigate the risk.

Quote from: forest on 2023.06.09, 14:39:18
nice. we need power mosfet of really low Rds according to Ismael Aviso. Did you managed to work with mosfets in Mhz range effectively ?

I've tested the Infineon MOSFETs up to 1MHz, which is what the gate driver is rated to on the data sheet. When I was testing using the Microchip SiC MOSFETs I was able to get up to 5MHz before the signal got distorted. I haven't tried the same with the Infineon ones yet though.

Quote from: gyula on 2023.06.09, 16:49:57
use a GDT in series with the coil (instead of a diode) which fires around 1800- 2000 V and could charge up C1 when fires once.

Good idea! I have various GDTs in my collection, ranging from 200V to 2000V so I'll try to find them and put them to good use.

Quote from: Excelsior on 2023.06.09, 16:56:46
Would it be a good idea to use a peltier module on each FET?

That's a good idea and an excellent way to keep them cool, but I imagine they consume a fair amount of power.

I've got the MOSFETs mounted to the heatsink using a clip and a thermal pad.

I'll monitor the temperatures and see if more extreme cooling is required. No point over complicating things until it's a problem. If I do get to the stage of requiring better cooling then that means a lot of power is being switched, which would be a good problem to have!

For monitoring, I'm going to use some temperature sensors connected to the Arduino. I'll monitor the MOSFET heatsink and gate driver IC initially. I'm also going to add voltage & current sensors to each MOSFET driver PCB to monitor the DC input. I'm also going to monitor the voltage on the output capacitor(s) and connect it to the Arduino via a resistor divider (to map high voltage to a lower voltage range) and into an optoisolator. Finally, I'll add voltage and current sensors to the batteries.

In order to view the real-time status of the sensors I'm going to expose a web server on the Arduino. I'm also planning to have a rudimentary UI to allow adjusting of PWM frequency, duty cycle and dead time on the fly. The value will be exported via MQTT to InfluxDB (https://www.influxdata.com/) (timeseries database) and I'll visualize the output using Grafana (https://grafana.com/), so that I can track things over time.

Can anyone think of any other metrics I should monitor?

Broad spectrum RF receiver maybe?
Gauss meter / Geiger counter / Tri-field meter
or apparatus that will detect similar phenomena?

We don't know what other effects this could incur.
Would be a shame to not log them if they are present.
So long as these measurements don't detract from the main focus.

I like the idea of remote operation via Arduino - That's really cool O0

Quote from: Excelsior on 2023.06.09, 18:32:25
Broad spectrum RF receiver maybe?
Gauss meter / Geiger counter / Tri-field meter
or apparatus that will detect similar phenomena?

I've got a Geiger counter, a Tri-field meter and a compass that I usually have running when experimenting. You never know what might turn up! It's a shame that I won't be able to store those readings over time. There's no way to extract the readings on the meters that I have unfortunately. I think being able to correlate various metrics over time will prove to be invaluable when looking at the results of tests.

Idea for cooling switching devices:

This is roughly how I might approach an active cooling system which could allow for better switching performance.
$100 - $150 to set up if you're thrifty about where you get your stuff from.

Power consumption should be irrelevant in a test model / prototype
(I'd guess a system like this could use probably about 200w or more)
Easily covered by a loop if it self powers, as we hope.

Condensation would be the only issue I see manifesting .. not so good with HV nearby
I'm sure a "workaround" exists. (Insulate the pins, bend them upwards and away from the Delta T perhaps?)
Might not even be an issue if the full rated power is not delivered to them
(Driving the Peltier devices at <50% may even suffice)

Oil could be used instead of water, provided the rubbers / plastics involved in fluid transmission won't be affected.
A smear of high temp thermal silicone could be used to bed IGBT/FET/SCR onto the "cold face" of the Peltier chip.
Then the same to bed the Peltier "hot face" onto the block. (Thermal silicone withstands 1000+ ^oC)

Might be worth considering using multiple blocks, one for each device, for the potential "arcing" from the rear plate.

Some of the components listed are less than ideal
Just wanted to put the idea out there in its most basic form for others to elaborate on.
Chill your beans!

Quote from: Excelsior on 2023.06.11, 20:52:29
Condensation would be the only issue I see manifesting .. not so good with HV nearby
I'm sure a "workaround" exists. (Insulate the pins, bend them upwards and away from the Delta T perhaps?)

That's a nice cooling setup. It would keep the FETs cool for sure!

Regarding the condensation problem - liberally spraying the FETs and any electronic equipment likely to be affected with conformal coating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformal_coating) should fix that. I've sprayed my boards with MG 422B (https://mgchemicals.com/products/conformal-coating/conformal-coating-spray/silicone-coating-spray/), mainly to prevent HV arcing, but it also provides moisture resistance.

I've got a web server running on the Arduino, as well as some temperature sensors hooked up. I can display the current sensor values and also update the duty cycle, PWM frequency and dead time.

This is my to do list and the items I've completed so far:

1. Solder Ethernet pins and attach ethernet port
2. Use QNEthernet library (https://github.com/ssilverman/QNEthernet) for Ethernet
3. Use EthernetWebServer library (https://github.com/khoih-prog/EthernetWebServer) for web server. Also refer to this link for Teensy 4.1 (https://forum.arduino.cc/t/ethernetwebserver-now-supports-teensy-4-1-qnethernet-library-for-built-in-ethernet/902122) specific info.
4. Add temperature sensors to MOSFET heatsinks, gate driver IC & DC/DC converter.
5. Add voltage & current sensors to batteries and DC input of each MOSFET driver board.
6. Add voltage sensor via voltage divider to capacitors. Use Zener to protect optocoupler (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/sensing-(interfacing)-high-voltage-with-arduino/).
7. Publish sensor data via MQTT using AsyncMQTT library (https://github.com/khoih-prog/AsyncMQTT_Generic)
8. Build a simple web page to allow setting PWM frequencies, duty cycle, dead time. Also display real time sensor values and current settings values.

I also had to prepare a new Arduino board with new Teensy 4.1 board because I'd soldered the last one directly and I couldn't access the under side in order to solder the Ethernet pin header. I tried to desolder and remove it, but it broke. I had to sacrifice it for the greater good. I added some pin header sockets to the solderable breadboard, so that I can easily remove the Teensy 4.1 board in the future.

The new board turned into a mini project because there are so many wires underneath for the PWM outputs, and a couple of things didn't work due to small errors when wiring them up. It took a disproportionate amount of time to debug and fix them. This wasn't unexpected as I'm a software developer by profession, so finding and fixing bugs is a daily activity for me!

Hi Lee,

Hats off to your devoted activity with all the "bells and whistles"!
   (I mean I hope your arduous additions of features will be justified by the overall result of having a COP > 1 setup.) 

Keep it up.

Gyula

I second Gyula - Keep at it !
Awesome stuff

Can't beat a well thought out to - do list with these projects.
Frees up so much headspace

I revised my do list to prune out the completed items as well as add some new ones.

1. Set current time using NTP server (this is required so that I can timestamp the sensor data)
2. Publish sensor data to InfluxDB via HTTP using EthernetHttpClient library
3. Solder breakout board for the DS18B20 digital temperature sensors
4. Add voltage sensors to switching power source batteries
5. Add current sensors to switching power source batteries
6. Add voltage sensors to DC input of each MOSFET driver board
7. Add current sensors to DC input of each MOSFET driver board
8. Add voltage sensor via voltage divider to input capacitor(s). Use Zener to protect optocoupler.
9. Add voltage sensor via voltage divider to output capacitor(s). Use Zener to protect optocoupler.

I've pretty much got the software side nailed down now and I've got something working end to end.

I just need to add the sensors above, mount the various bits onto a more permanent platform and then take it for it's first test flight.

I'm itching to get started and see some meaningful results (good or bad), but I'm mindful about jumping the gun so want to make sure I get everything on my list completed before turning it on for the first time.

It's not terribly exciting, and only has a couple of data points so far, but it's a start!

(https://i.ibb.co/s6qNMhz/Screenshot-2023-06-13-172437.png) (https://ibb.co/Tbt7FZd)

Someone care to elaborate on this video?

Is it what it looks like ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64F3ANJF49w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64F3ANJF49w)

Quote from: Excelsior on 2023.06.13, 19:51:50
Someone care to elaborate on this video?

It looks pretty compelling, but then again his measurement protocol isn't exactly water tight. It looks good, but it's a short video and he's using slow meters. It would be good to see a long running test, maybe heating a known quantity of water and measuring the temperature change over time to get the stored energy value (https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/energy-storage-water-d_1463.html) compared to the input power. It wouldn't be difficult to output 30A from 200W input, if running at 6.5V for example.

Another good demo which needn't last long, would be to run a hair dryer or kettle from the output. Both of those use between 1.5kW to 3kW, so that sort of load would be impossible to run directly from the 200W input. I recall Steven Marks performing a similar demo of the TPU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_fRKxz_UNo).

There are a couple of interesting comments on that video:

QuoteWow havent seen this stuff for years.
For all negative comments i  will let you know its real.

I have seen similar and done it myself.

Its not free.energy, but it is most often called it.

A simple.princeble to learn is.the magnifying glass.

Why does it not burn when it is out of focus ?
If you truly know why, then you will be closer to undersrand what free energy devices are.

Most ou or fe devices are fake.
The sm tpu is one of the real deals

This resonates with me, because I remember Steven Marks mentioning about coherence in his correspondence with Lindsay Mannix. This ties back with what I was trying to explain about the energy being the square of the amplitude of a wave. If you cohere multiple waves, then as a result of superposition they will add up and the energy produced will be much more than the algebraic sum of the energy available when considering them in isolation.

QuoteCorrect. As taught by Walter Russell, such devices wind up "potential" which, in his view, is simply spirals or waves of light that get increasingly condensed and compressed (multiplied).

He was able to power his 52-room mansion/university using this principle with his device known as the Optic-Dynamo Generator.

He seemed to create miracles with "dual solenoids" for both power generation and elemental transmutation, as repeatedly verified at Westinghouse Labs around 1930.

Quote from: lfarrand on 2023.06.13, 21:19:37
...
It looks pretty compelling, but then again his measurement protocol isn't exactly water tight. It looks good, but it's a short video and he's using slow meters. It would be good to see a long running test, maybe heating a known quantity of water and measuring the temperature change over time to get the stored energy value (https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/energy-storage-water-d_1463.html) compared to the input power. It wouldn't be difficult to output 30A from 200W input, if running at 6.5V for example.

...

I agree.  The clamp-on Ampermeter cannot be depended on to measure AC current other than sine wave and at 50 or 60 Hz. 
Another red flag: note his voltmeter shows DC voltage (around 154 V) and he multiplies this with the AC current? to make you believe the 4.6 kW...  Hmmm...

Gyula

Excelsior

QuoteSomeone care to elaborate on this video?
Is it what it looks like ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64F3ANJF49w

Yes, it looks like an amateur video with literally no context as to what were actually looking at.

I see a bunch of electronics, some basic components like a capacitor and a toroid coil. It looks like a slightly more complex version of the devices found on this video...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15V0gUXUPko

AC

@Excelsior: Thinking about your points about measuring the magnetic field and radiation, I decided to buy some Arduino sensors to do that. I figured that it would be best to get as many data points as possible. Logging the intentity of the magnetic field of the coil is a nice statistic to have when looking back over test results. I wasn't so keen on having to measure that manually every time, because I'm lazy! :) I also picked up a Geiger sensor to log radiation levels.

Measuring the voltage of the capacitor is proving to be a bit of a sticking point. The capacitor is floating and I'm not able to share the ground reference with the Arduino, so that makes measuring the voltage quite tricky. After many hours trawling forums and data sheets, I've come up with a solution. I'll have an ADS1115 analog to digital converter hooked up to a voltage sensor via a resistor divider, whcih will be connected to the capacitor on the high side. I'll then have the ADS1115 connected to a Vishay VO2631 dual channel 10 MBd optocoupler, and have a bidirectional channel for the I2C SDA (clock) line, and a unidirectional SCL (data) line. This will enable me to convert the analog measurement to digital on the high side and then transmit the digital value to the Arduino. It's quite a Heath Robinson / Rube Goldberg arrangement, but it is what it is.

Another sensor I picked up was a 100A split core AC current sensor, which will conveniently plug into the ADS1115 module which has 4 separate channels to interface with. I plan to use this on the output isolation transformer secondary coil.

I've also started mounting the hardware to a semi-permanent mount, because I got fed up of disconnecting and reconnecting wires all the time.

I made some progress with the Arduino software as well. I've persisted the configuration to SD card so that it can be easily reloaded when the Arduino powers on. The web UI saves values to the SD card and triggers a reload.

Here's a screenshot of the Arduino settings web UI page:

(https://i.ibb.co/6yb7F8n/Settings-screenshot.png) (https://ibb.co/Bfj5BGz)

Very cool stuff Lee

I am quite stoked about this thread and your contributions; should give everyone a good "leg up" or inspiration to try

Have no doubt you'll get satisfactory results with such precise methodology applied.

I made some progress. I got the system installed on a semi-permanent mount and finished some wiring.

I fired it up for the first time, with 5x 12V batteries in series (60V total). The 11x 6.8nF capacitor charged up to 900V in an instant. I'm only using batteries for now to test the system and kick the tyres. Eventually I'll aim to kick it off in a loop.

I now need to think about the waveforms of the MOSFETs and make sure they're doing what they should be doing, at the correct time.

I then need to figure out the sPWM code and wire up the output MOSFETs to discharge the capacitor into an isolation transformer.

(https://i.ibb.co/PYc1hCH/IMG-5289.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MhcPVN0)

(https://i.ibb.co/KNzH5qN/IMG-5290.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8z4Vm5z)

(https://i.ibb.co/Dw9v0SN/IMG-5291.jpg) (https://ibb.co/r5xzD1g)

Hi Lee,

Nice progress, thanks for reporting.  The 900 V is already a loaded value as you know due  to the paralleld internal resistances of the 2 voltmeters.   8)

Remains to be solved also the circuit detail for connecting C2 etc, because as shown https://ibb.co/RytJVwC (https://ibb.co/RytJVwC)  C2 is in parallel with C1.

Gyula

Some new toys arrived from China.

(https://i.ibb.co/DVvJGfw/IMG-5304.jpg) (https://ibb.co/SsMjQwV)

4x Infineon FZ900R12KE4 single IGBT switches, which set me back the princely sum of £37 each.

I'm wondering whether to go for a half bridge inverter design and double up the switches to work at higher voltage, or a full bridge design with 4 independent switches.

Hi Lee,

You got nice "beasts"...   ;)   O0    900 Amper continuous and 1800 Amper peak collector current, 1200 V max V_CE,  quasi undestroyable devices...  :D

On a full bridge, you mean a H-bridge? or ?  I think you would aim to have a safe HV switch around 2 kV to discharge a HV capacitor?

Gyula

Quote from: gyula on 2023.06.23, 16:24:28
Hi Lee,

You got nice "beasts"...   ;)   O0    900 Amper continuous and 1800 Amper peak collector current, 1200 V max V_CE,  quasi undestroyable devices...  :D

On a full bridge, you mean a H-bridge? or ?  I think you would aim to have a safe HV switch around 2 kV to discharge a HV capacitor?

Gyula

Yeah they're as robust as tanks compared to the MOSFETs which whimper at the sight of a large current :) There are some nice bargains on AliExpress.

Yes, when I said full bridge I meant H bridge. Ideally I'd like to work at 2kV all the way through, but with a half bridge with these IGBTs doubled up I'd still end up with half the voltage due to the half bridge topology. With a full bridge I can use the full voltage, but then I'm limited to the 1.2kV rating of the IGBTs.

I might need some more.... :)

Kudos for dropping the cash on those, even if you did get a good deal
That's commitment right there !

I'd whimper at the thought of hooking one up wrong  ;D

Quote from: lfarrand on 2023.06.23, 20:38:53

Yes, when I said full bridge I meant H bridge. Ideally I'd like to work at 2kV all the way through, but with a half bridge with these IGBTs doubled up I'd still end up with half the voltage due to the half bridge topology. With a full bridge I can use the full voltage, but then I'm limited to the 1.2kV rating of the IGBTs.

I might need some more.... :)

Well,  perhaps it would be wise to stay around or little below the 1 kV level with these IGBTs and see what could be achieved? And then you could still purchase further HV devices. 

Gyula

Quote from: gyula on 2023.06.24, 10:52:08
Well,  perhaps it would be wise to stay around or little below the 1 kV level with these IGBTs and see what could be achieved? And then you could still purchase further HV devices. 
Gyula

That is a very sensible suggestion :)

I've been doing some research into MOSFET resistance vs temperature, and it is quite obvious that the resistance increases linearly with greater temperatures. As a result, the current handling capability decreases linearly. This suggests that good cooling is imperative for smooth operation within the safe operating area. I hadn't really thought about this too deeply and considered the implications of rising temperatures, but thanks to Excelsior for suggesting peltier coolers.

I've placed an order for some 576W peltier coolers from AliExpress.

(https://i.ibb.co/YBP6TL5/Screenshot-2023-08-22-165623.png) (https://ibb.co/gZmGFR0)

I'll locate the peltier coolers a short distance away from my device and uses flexible tubing to connect a pump and water blocks to it.

I'm going to use these waterblocks on the MOSFETs:

(https://i.ibb.co/pvbS64C/Screenshot-2023-08-22-165725.png) (https://ibb.co/svbZpsL)

I expect that I'll be able to use one long waterblock for a number of MOSFET switches lined up side by side.

I'm going to use these waterblocks for the IGBTs:

(https://i.ibb.co/mBtctSz/Screenshot-2023-08-22-165751.png) (https://ibb.co/9v2r2GY)

I'll clamp the IGBT bases to the top of the waterblock.

Yeah looks the piece - I would suggest keeping everything at or below 80% max of its limit - or oversize as it seems you have with that cooler module (in terms of power use)

Only suggestion I might add is, use a really good 120-200mm fan with good static pressure ratings (think Corsair / Noctuna / Imhotep style adapted Bedini maybe ?)

Gives you full control over the fan motor through an Arduino Nano or nearby PC (could be worthwhile)
Then form some ducting to accommodate the 3-4x larger fan, tapering the diameter to meet the cooler.

Could use the heat as PM for a small TeslaTurbine + Flywheel + Axial PMA / Newman gen.  O0
& feed back as PM for the system in mention (provided this doesn't stray too far from the objective)
Alternatively, the extra current could be used purely to cool the FET's (not clear which would be best)

Consider using PEEK M4 machine screws, and, provided the wall is thick enough, perhaps pilot the block with a small tap & Die set by 1mm depth or so (not sure this will end happily though  :-\)
Not sure which clamps you are referring to (Irwin quickgrips??  ;D)

Then use this stuff as insulator (superior transmission to grease / silicones afaik)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AIMIMI-Insulator-Heatsink-Insulation-Transistor/dp/B09T2NB245?th=1

Thanks for the tip about the ceramic thermal insulator layer. I had bought some aluminium oxide insulating pads for the TO-247 devices, but hadn't thought about buying larger sheets for the IGBTs.

For the clamps I was thinking about simply using two bars of metal (steel, brass etc.) and joining them using machine screws, sandwiching the IGBT and waterblock inbetween. I'm not thinking about drilling into the waterblock, because I'm not sure what a safe depth would be.

I'm going to be using two of these IGBTs on the output section:

(https://i.ibb.co/DC0Ywsy/IGBT-Prime-PACK3-jpg-1682170244.jpg) (https://ibb.co/J7Dqr04)

Glad it helps - I'm really just throwing ideas out there. Good to conceive of every possibility and account for it prior imo.
Look forward to the next update  :)

The PCBs arrived from JLCPCB via Fedex today.

I've completed a manual continuity check and it all looks good so far. Now onto the soldering!

(https://i.ibb.co/3mcRpK6/IMG-5853.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0yrsC54)

(https://i.ibb.co/zG9dhX7/IMG-5854.jpg) (https://ibb.co/PwXkZc9)

(https://i.ibb.co/d5gwFvJ/IMG-5855.jpg) (https://ibb.co/P6QvKyz)

(https://i.ibb.co/cX6ywZs/IMG-5856.jpg) (https://ibb.co/WpkH0MR)

(https://i.ibb.co/fF5rvx5/IMG-5857.jpg) (https://ibb.co/pw84yL8)

(https://i.ibb.co/bKMkw63/IMG-5859.jpg) (https://ibb.co/LZX3j0P)

Upgraded cooling compared to last revision of PCB - big bro & little bro

(https://i.ibb.co/7n6qkrn/IMG-5852.jpg) (https://ibb.co/5rfPKsr)

I soldered the components in. I opted for the Microchip MSC035SMA170B4 MOSFET in this board.

The biggest time sink is finding and organising all of the components, gathering them into one place.

(https://i.ibb.co/4Rn491R/IMG-5882.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HTfG1hT)

(https://i.ibb.co/b2jKBB0/IMG-5884.jpg) (https://ibb.co/61cWPPM)

The back to back heatsinks were a bit of a squeeze. Ideally there would be another 1mm inbetween them. As it stands they aren't perfectly level, but I think that was because I had to bend the MOSFET & diode legs slightly so that the backs would sit flush against the heatsink.

Never a truer word spoken. Organisation is the key.

Johnny 5 is ALIVE!

(https://i.ibb.co/VwFPxkX/IMG-5890.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HhckC9m)

(https://i.ibb.co/CvxzXbF/IMG-5891.jpg) (https://ibb.co/L648qxf)

Hi Lee,

Great progress and build, thanks for showing the boards too.

Perhaps you wish to tell some more on Johnny 5 circuit? 

Gyula

@Gyula - I'll post the circuit once I've finished it. It's still a work in progress right now.

I've completed all 10 boards nows. Here they are waiting for a final wash / rinse to remove the flux.

(https://i.ibb.co/wBt4b0N/IMG-5993.jpg) (https://ibb.co/RY8cMvp)

I washed them and rinsed with isopropyl alcohol this morning.

I've also tested them all with a 12V incandescent bulb and they are all working as expected, at this voltage level at least!

Next step is to build a circuit with the 74HC4017 chip, and combine that with an inverted PWM signal.

Hi Lee,

Thanks, well I meant not a schematic, sorry but the purpose of the circuit because I did not always follow this thread (got lost).   :) 

Gyula

Hi Gyula,

Ah right, yes, you've got a point. I've changed my approach from what I said earlier in the thread.

I'm now working on a circuit to discharge 10 capacitors in sequence, whilst charging them in parallel (when not being discharged).

I put together this infographic to describe what I'm trying to achieve:

(https://i.ibb.co/wWQBMG2/Sequential-capacitor-discharge-parallel-charge.png) (https://ibb.co/0M9mh4z)

Basically, I want to turn on each MOSFET for a very short period of time, roughly equal to about 0.1t (or less) of the capacitor discharge curve. My thinking is that it will take a relatively short time to refill the capacitor from, say, 95% to 99%. The capacitor will yield max voltage and max current (hence max power) for a short period of time.

Best regards,

Lee

I got my 74HC4017 circuit working. The circuit takes the output of the PWM generator as the clock source, and then switches between each output in sequence. You can't see from the photo, but each LED lights up in sequence. Once you go above 100Hz then all of the LEDs appear to be lit, but they're actually being lit sequentially.

I added the LEDs as a visual indicator about what's going on. I am planning to take the signal output from each pin on the 4017 and feed each one into a different MOSFET driver logic input (non-inverted). I'll then feed the inverted PWM signal into the inverted input on the gate driver, and both non-inverted and inverted inputs will be ANDed together and this logical product will be reflected on the output. I'll also feed the non-inverted PWM signal into the clock input on the 4017.

(https://i.ibb.co/nM4FgBD/IMG-6016.jpg) (https://ibb.co/1GBkvM9)

Next up I need to adjust my Arduino code to output both a PWM signal and its inverted output. Thankfully I'm using a library (eFlexPwm (https://github.com/epsilonrt/eFlexPwm)) that someone wrote to work with the hardware PWM timers on the NXP IMXRT1062DVJ6 ARM Cortex-M7 CPU (https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/i-mx-rt-crossover-mcus/i-mx-rt1060-crossover-mcu-with-arm-cortex-m7-core-operating-up-to-600-mhz-with-1-mb-ram:i.MX-RT1060). The library makes it super easy to generate PWM waveforms.

I'm using the Teensy 4.1 (https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy41.html) Arduino board for my project. It's the fastest Arduino board out there right now. The CPU runs at 600MHz.

I've now connected the Teensy 4.1 with the 4017 IC.

(https://i.ibb.co/n7sTqH4/IMG-6037.jpg) (https://ibb.co/pfvg6tN)

I'm generating a PWM signal on submodule 1.3. This submodule has two PWM channels - A & B. Channel A is set to output a PWM signal and channel B is set to output the inverse of channel A. I'm able to configure the PWM settings at runtime through the rudimentary web interface that I put together.

(https://i.ibb.co/QHsYsvR/Switch-input-settings.png) (https://ibb.co/bvpNp5Z)

The PWM output from 1.3A is fed into the 4017 clock signal input, so each PWM pulse triggers the 4017 to select the next output in sequence. The PWM output from 1.3B is fed into the gate driver inverted input, and output 1 on the 4017 is fed into the gate driver non-inverted input.

Here's a video of it in action. The blue LEDs light up as each output is selected by the 4017. The incandescent bulb only lights while output 1 is high.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Jb_VccmVMYs

I now need to hook up the remaining 9 MOSFET driver boards and test with more light bulbs.

I've finished the 10 MOSFET driver boards and have hooked them up.

(https://i.ibb.co/V3gVBKX/IMG-6091.jpg) (https://ibb.co/fQkM0cm)

I've been ironing out some wrinkles the past few days. The gate driver signal was being distorted and I finally figured out why - I had stupidly put two small capacitors on the logic input, so the Arduino output was trying to charge them up each cycle but never quite managing it. I was left with a somewhat sawtooth waveform rather than a nice sharp square wave. I desoldered the two caps from each input and it's working as expected now.