Liquid dialectrics

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John Doe
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2018 8:06 am
Real name: John Doe

Liquid dialectrics

Post by John Doe »

I am planning on constructing the entirety of my high voltage line in the next couple days, and read a couple posts here and on Physics Stack Exchange that described MOTs to be very inefficient, using them for longer periods of time could end up with them burning out. I decided to look into some liquid dielectrics that would work for voltages above 2KV, and found that mineral oil and synthetic automotive oil were good options (although I'm currently questioning the synthetic automotive oil).
Any alternatives, brands, products that you all would recommend?

Thanks.
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Dennis P Brown
Posts: 3159
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 10:46 am
Real name: Dennis Brown

Re: Liquid dialectrics

Post by Dennis P Brown »

The research paper I read on synthetic motor oils as high voltage dielectrics just indicated that fully synthetic motor oil is required: anti-corrosion additives appeared to increase its ability to withstand higher voltages. Mineral oils can't have additives for high voltage applications; otherwise, the purer the better.

As an aside: I used synthetic motor oil in a 70 kV voltage multiplier stack with great success. Also, for my 32 kV fusor transformer diode array and ballast resistor.
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