Some very Odd uses for capacitors [A Curiosity from Wesley ]

[Chet K]

http://www.gravitecinc.com/PDFs/Cambell%2020040171466_2004178290.pdf

Nasa's  Barrel shaped Capacitor Drive....
A drive system worth looking into?

Thx
Chet

[ion]

The summary and conclusions tell the tale.

[TinMan]

I wonder how much money was spent figuring out that a lifter wont work in a vacuum?. I mean that is all they have built-a lifter(as there called). Most of us know that you wont produce an ion wind thrust in space,as there is no air.
Im continually amazed at the amount of money wasted by NASA,when the guy in the back shed could have told them what happens ,before they even started there experimenting.
They make there testing sound all so technical,by using laws of physics,fancy calculations,and all that crap. Is it that hard to work out,that a propulsion system that relies on the moving of air,simply wont work where there is no air to move?.

And what is with all that complicated math to work out how much thrust the thing can produce?.Why not just hang the thruster of a pendulum string,and tie the ruddy thing to a pair of pull scale's-then switch it on.

If NASA is the best we have for future space travel,then we wont be getting very far any time soon.

Here is a video of what they have made Chet,but i bet the one in the video flies better than NASA's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71v5sFu7LT8

[Centraflow]

Don't get me wrong Brad, but I think in a vacuum they supply the ions via a gas.

These are already being used in some sat's for maneuvering, not sure what gas they use though!

Regards

Mike

[TinMan]

Don't get me wrong Brad, but I think in a vacuum they supply the ions via a gas.

These are already being used in some sat's for maneuvering, not sure what gas they use though!

Regards

Mike

I'm not sure on the gas thing,i thought ion drive in space vehicle relied on accelerating ions through an exhaust?.Gridded ion thrusters is what they are referred to.
But as we read in the PDF,all thrust is lost once they place in a vacuum.And looking at the device,i see no difference to that of the lifter we can all build on our kitchen table. When i got mine up and running,you could smell the ozone,and see a purple corona around the craft. At the very least,it was a great show.
For my power supply,i just used an old flyback transformer from an old monitor,and it worked a treat.

[Centraflow]

I'm not sure on the gas thing,i thought ion drive in space vehicle relied on accelerating ions through an exhaust?.Gridded ion thrusters is what they are referred to.
But as we read in the PDF,all thrust is lost once they place in a vacuum.And looking at the device,i see no difference to that of the lifter we can all build on our kitchen table. When i got mine up and running,you could smell the ozone,and see a purple corona around the craft. At the very least,it was a great show.
For my power supply,i just used an old flyback transformer from an old monitor,and it worked a treat.

Found this

Ion Thruster Operation
Modern ion thrusters use inert gases for propellant. The majority of thrusters use xenon, which is chemically inert, colorless, odorless, and tasteless. The propellant is injected from the downstream end of the thruster and flows toward the upstream end. This injection method is preferred because it increases the time that the propellant remains in the chamber.

In a conventional ion thruster, electrons are generated by a hollow cathode, called the discharge cathode, located at the center of the engine on the upstream end. The electrons flow out of the discharge cathode and are attracted to the discharge chamber walls, which are charged to a high positive potential by the thruster's power supply.

The electrons from the discharge cathode ionize the propellant by means of electron bombardment. High-strength magnets are placed along the discharge chamber walls so that as electrons approach the walls, they are redirected into the discharge chamber by the magnetic fields. By maximizing the length of time that electrons and propellant atoms remain in the discharge chamber, the chance of ionization is maximized, which makes the ionization process as efficient as possible.

Regards

Mike

[Centraflow]

This is a good read, I have saved it into a pdf

mike

[Grumpy]

http://www.gravitecinc.com/PDFs/Cambell%2020040171466_2004178290.pdf

Nasa's  Barrel shaped Capacitor Drive....
A drive system worth looking into?

Thx
Chet

Might make for a podracer one day!

[Peterae]

My experiments on asymmetric capacitors show that the effect works when encapsulated, they only tested down to a certain vacuum level until it started arcing over and then ceased the tests due to potential damage of the instruments, if a true hard vacuum had been first established the result may well have been different, anyway TT brown had it working using a plate stack encapsulated in a box, it is this box they should try in space, they certainly wont have arcing that's for sure because of the encapsulation, this is not ion movement of air responsible in this config but a very weak thrust never the less vacuum or no vacuum it will work i am sure it does not need air when encapsulated.