Jan H

Thanks ren!
I will look into those igbt's 6500V is good enough. At least its a whole lot better than a 600$ thyratron I will look into the rise time characteristics to see if they will suit the application. I don't know if you've looked into this kind of energy generation, but the switch needs to be very abrupt and short. There's this lecture by mr Lindemann on some kind of conference. Where he reads from secrets of cold war technology, and where he links tesla's experiments with the gray tube. Very interesting to listen to.
Also the main reason i want to switch on the HV side is so i can charge a big cap (as you mention). If i pulse on the low voltage side the cap allows me no control on the sparks that are generated, so that's why.

As far as the dangers go, i'm pretty well informed on the dangers. when you start charging big caps with HV it gets deadly. So don't worry, i will insulate and shield.

And the diagram in the other topic you can also forget. I am planning to do the next machine with one or two MOT's (as you mentioned)

Would you have any names of those mosfets or igbt's? I recently searched alldatasheet.com for suitable transistors, but not one of them got even close.
Yes maybe mechanical, but that also has a lot of problems that go with it.
The reason i'd like to do this in a solid state way is so that it's really easy to play with diffrent intervals, dutycycles etc. Because my guts tell me this is going to take a lot of tuning. Turning a pot is easier than cutting a new commutator wheel. And the frequencies i'd like to try are also a bit out of the mechanical range

Jacqui:
Could you describe those difficulties? And give an indication of prices? Maybe i should look for some second hand one from an army dump or so.

Thanks for the input guys.

I think i found the part I need for successful switching. While watching a lecture by mr. lindemann. He talked about these pancake coils used to light bulbs with one wire.
The switching action was done by a Hydrogen thyratron.
Thyratron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So there you have it, now all i need to do is find one

Hmmmm. interesting, i knew this wasn't going to be easy.

I read that the scr only remains open as long as current is flowing. I can't really predict the amount of current that will be flowing but it shouldn't be much, especially with these short pulses current should always be one step behind, right?
If I would be able to construct it in such a way that the current never exceeds the thyristors' threshold, it shouldn't be a problem.
Please correct me if I'm wrong though, I didn't go to school for this.
Another option would be to use a very small capacitor so that when it empties itself, that time would be equivalent to the discharge time we want.

I know tubes are hard to find these days, pretty much the only market left is the audiophile market, and I don't think those tubes will be able to handle the voltages required.

thanks for replying guys.

Hello, ive been looking into the gray tube for a while now. But i have some problems figuring out how to chop the power on the high voltage side.
I have made a device that sort of looks like one, but the circuit is still far from where it needs to be. http://www.energeticforum.com/renewa...gray-tube.html
It sends a pulse(20 -30 kHz) into a TV-transformer, and whatever comes out goes to the tube. I need to chop AFTER the transformer.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how to do that, normal transistors burn out at a few hundreds of volts at best. So now i found this new component that might be able to do it, called a thyristor (SCR). Of wich i know little about and have little knowlege of its characteristics in this matter.
My plan was to have a 4kV power supply with a good capacitor for starters, and then through switching action of the thyristor discharging into the tube. The thyristor i want to control with a 555 timer and a small mosfet. Because I read that thyristors work on current, and 555's don't do current.

Would anyone care to explain me whether this is a viable construction? Or maybe i would be better off with a vacuum tube of some sort. Also do i need to use two 555 timers, so i can control the duty cycle?

Sorry if this sounds as a n00b question, I'm still learning :P

i wonder why you think a gray tube might be simpler than a "bedini" motor generator. Clearly it is not.
though I wonder if there's a way to get around the motor. In theory you could, create the spark, and capture the radiant with a lead acid battery right?
how about a 555 chip pulsing a flyback transformer through a transistor?

I'm placing this thread because i couldn't find one concerning this subject. And I think discussion will be interesting.

as most of you will know, Dr. Moray invented this device in the early 1900's. In short: a 60 pound device putting out 50Kw. (Peter talks about this in one of his lectures)
And the secret to this device being the Moray valve, a sort of diode for radiant energy.
I have been searching the net for a bit, and it really seems like no one has ever re-invented this component after it was destroyed back in the 30's. Or at least no one is disclosing any information.
The reason im starting this thread is to find out what you people think of all this. This valve being the "holy grail" of radiant energy, the output of it being far greater than any other radiant device i've ever heard of.

I'm still in the process of scrambling together parts for a bedini SSG. My knowledge of conventional electronics is not as good as some of the users on this forum though.
But still it might be cool to do some experimenting with some of the alleged materials that were supposed to be in the valve. Or do you people think it will be too hard for a mere mortal like me. :P
And where am i going to find Germanium, Bismuth, Uranium? isn't that stuff expensive?
I'd also like to know if any of the users on this forum have expirimented with this? I mean there is a lot of information on the net on "what" the valve would have contained. But it would still be incredibly difficult to reproduce what he did.

I personally think the "secret" will be discovered by someone who has a natural feel or intuition for this type of energy. One would have to know what he was doing, I Guess that sort of the point of playing with simple ssg's learning to understand first hand what radiant energy is. If you don't know what youre dealing with, you can't solve problems, or get any idea's.
It just frustrates me that this thing was invented a small century ago, and nobody can re-invent it. It's just mind blowing.
Maybe the time isn't right for it yet.

Anyway what do you people think of all this?