Longitudinal displacements:

[web000x]

I used magnetic quenching a long time ago and had god results, but I switched to the delay line method for square pulses (when very short they are spikes).  The delay line reflects and then the reflection turns off the switch.  I found it to work very well.

Hey Grumpy,

I know this thread is rather old but if you're still around the forum, I am very interested in hearing more about this circuit as a simple way to turn off an ignitron because that would be rather remarkable.  As of now, I am unsure how you would get enough of a reflected wave to interrupt the massive discharge through the switch.  It seems to me that this circuit concept came from a circuit to operate a BJT in avalanche mode so I don't see how it could be used to turn off an ignitron.  Any insight would be appreciated.

Attached is the BJT Avalanche circuit I found on Wikipedia and your ignitron pulser circuit for comparison.

Thanks,

Dave

[Grumpy]

Hello Dave,

I doubt it would work as depicted.  Darkspeed was the only one using anything close to an ignitron and huge amounts of current, and he jut stopped posting one day and never returned.

Anyway, that circuit is for a BJT in avalanche mode and I'm still working with it.
I no longer use the delay line, but rather a 470pF HV pulse capacitor.  I;d have to verify with my notes, but I recall that the delay line reduced the pulse rise time, and it was hard enough to get a fast enough time. I try to get the RT below 50ns.  Ive' gotten down to 20ns but this wasn't repeatable.
Nest is to rebuild my test board with ceramic heatsinks on the BJT's as they get hot without a heatsink.

[Allcanadian]

From Darkspeed

15kv neon sign transformer > fullbridge diode > 5.5uf 20kv pulse capacitor > charging inductors > .15uf @20kv poly capacitor bank > negative side of bank to >  magnetic spark gap ( in diode mode ) > 4000ft of 28awg c-200 magnet wire on spool > variable speed rotary spark gap > to positive side of bank.

Transformer charges up the big cap, the big cap charges up the small bank through inductors, when the rotary makes it pulls one pulse through the spark gap and then the gap kills the arc for the duration of the dwell in the rotary gap.

Spark gap:
Negative terminal is a brass or iron point
Positive terminal is a 2" diameter carbon sphere - machined from rod stock
There is a north / south magnet across the gap isolated with mica - this blows out the arc if one forms
There is an additional arrangement of radial magnets orientated to push in opposition to the field created by the current flow in the wire and or plasma.

I can verify Darkspeed's claim and used an almost identical setup to produce similar effects. As Tesla said, the effect relies on a single high magnitude discharge with no return.

A Tesla coil is not required and a 200kV Van De Graaff > 10 plate HV capacitor > non-return rotary spark gap > sphere or low turn coil can produce similar results.

As Tesla explained, a radiant discharge should not be confused with EM waves and they are not the same thing. EM waves are similar to ocean waves where the water is displaced vertically. Where a radiant discharge would be more like a Soliton or solitary wave, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliton

A soliton is a nonlinear, self-reinforcing, localized wave packet that is strongly stable, in that it preserves its shape while propagating freely, at constant velocity, and recovers it even after collisions with other such localized wave packets. Its remarkable stability can be traced to a balanced cancellation of nonlinear and dispersive effects in the medium.

As we can see a Soliton wave does not readily interact with other waves, acts independently and resists dissipation in the medium. Is this not exactly what Nikola Tesla described?. Here we have a scientifically proven effect which mirrors what Tesla described. Here's the kicker, radiant discharges and Soliton waves both require that all the conditions be exactly correct for them to form. Get anything wrong and nothing happens which may explain why so many researchers failed to reproduce Tesla's radiant energy technology.

AC

[web000x]

Hello Dave,

I doubt it would work as depicted.  Darkspeed was the only one using anything close to an ignitron and huge amounts of current, and he jut stopped posting one day and never returned.

Anyway, that circuit is for a BJT in avalanche mode and I'm still working with it.
I no longer use the delay line, but rather a 470pF HV pulse capacitor.  I;d have to verify with my notes, but I recall that the delay line reduced the pulse rise time, and it was hard enough to get a fast enough time. I try to get the RT below 50ns.  Ive' gotten down to 20ns but this wasn't repeatable.
Nest is to rebuild my test board with ceramic heatsinks on the BJT's as they get hot without a heatsink.

Thanks Grumpy,  I had a feeling that a delay line wouldn't stop an ignitron discharge.  I may experiment with a high speed multi-point rotary spark gap, ignitron or silver/carbon arrangment to attempt to produce the unidirectional impulses that I'm interested in investigating.

Dave

[web000x]

From Darkspeed
I can verify Darkspeed's claim and used an almost identical setup to produce similar effects. As Tesla said, the effect relies on a single high magnitude discharge with no return.

A Tesla coil is not required and a 200kV Van De Graaff > 10 plate HV capacitor > non-return rotary spark gap > sphere or low turn coil can produce similar results.

As Tesla explained, a radiant discharge should not be confused with EM waves and they are not the same thing. EM waves are similar to ocean waves where the water is displaced vertically. Where a radiant discharge would be more like a Soliton or solitary wave, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliton
As we can see a Soliton wave does not readily interact with other waves, acts independently and resists dissipation in the medium. Is this not exactly what Nikola Tesla described?. Here we have a scientifically proven effect which mirrors what Tesla described. Here's the kicker, radiant discharges and Soliton waves both require that all the conditions be exactly correct for them to form. Get anything wrong and nothing happens which may explain why so many researchers failed to reproduce Tesla's radiant energy technology.

AC

I've seen too few folks experimenting in this area despite the chapter that highlights it in the Lost Science book by Vassilatos so I feel it worth my time to look into it.  Thanks for your feedback.

Dave