Distance, voltage, pressure for deuterium arc?

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Sven Andersson
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Distance, voltage, pressure for deuterium arc?

Post by Sven Andersson »

Say I want to create an arc in D2 between two pointed "needle" electrodes at a pressure of 1 Pa. Is there some rule of thumb or formula that can tell me how high the electric potential need to be to create a breakdown and form an arc?
Andrew Seltzman
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Re: Distance, voltage, pressure for deuterium arc?

Post by Andrew Seltzman »

Yes, Paschen's law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paschen%27s_law

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ ... e_in_gases

Typically 500v to a few kv should be sufficient for most practical gap distances.
Andrew Seltzman
www.rtftechnologies.org
Sven Andersson
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Re: Distance, voltage, pressure for deuterium arc?

Post by Sven Andersson »

Andrew Seltzman wrote:Yes, Paschen's law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paschen%27s_law

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ ... e_in_gases

Typically 500v to a few kv should be sufficient for most practical gap distances.
A practical gap distance would be 1 centimeter. Let's say the pressure is 1 Pa or 10 Pa. Then I cannot read on the curve the breakdown voltage. Is hundreds of kV needed to start an arc then? Let's say I use sharply pointed electrodes.
John Futter
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Re: Distance, voltage, pressure for deuterium arc?

Post by John Futter »

Sven
I would use the control gear for gas discharge lamps. You have plenty of choice Flourescent light ballasts and starters, mercury discharge lamp control gear multi halide discharge control gear, even car xenon HID discharge control gear.
all of this generates the correct lamp current (wattage) and provides the inductive high voltage kick to strike the arc
Sven Andersson
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Re: Distance, voltage, pressure for deuterium arc?

Post by Sven Andersson »

John Futter wrote:Sven
I would use the control gear for gas discharge lamps. You have plenty of choice Flourescent light ballasts and starters, mercury discharge lamp control gear multi halide discharge control gear, even car xenon HID discharge control gear.
all of this generates the correct lamp current (wattage) and provides the inductive high voltage kick to strike the arc
Which type is most suitable for striking and maintaining an arc in deuterium gas at a pressure of 1-10 Pa and a gap distance of 1 centimeter between two pointed electrodes?
Andrew Seltzman
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Re: Distance, voltage, pressure for deuterium arc?

Post by Andrew Seltzman »

Go with a small neon sign transformer and variac, that should give you the widest range of options.
Andrew Seltzman
www.rtftechnologies.org
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