Fusion Message Board

In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.

Subject: Re: Neutron generation
Date: Oct 04, 8:30 pm
Poster: Richard Hester

On Oct 04, 8:30 pm, Richard Hester wrote:

A word of warning - neon sign transformers have center tapped secondaries, with the center tap grounded to the case. What you have in reality is a +/- 7.5 kV transformer. Getting minus 15 kV to power the fusor without floating the transformer case or the fusor itself to dangerously high voltage will require using a 1/2 wave doubler stack with at least 2 high voltage capacitors and 2 high voltage diodes. If you don't want to mess with this level of complexity, you might want to set this transformer aside and look for something better. Comb local surplus outlets, junk yards, and Ebay (the last one, carefully).
The fusxor site has a good introductory treatise on fusor construction and safety considerations. If I recall, this is a reprint of an article that TOM Ligon wrote for Analog magazine. The exact URL escapes me, but could be easily found by loading up a search engine with "fusor" or "Farnsworth fusor".

BTW, a lot of essentials and valuable tips are covered in previous posts. It's a good idea to comb past threads all the way back to the beginning (they're all there), because there's gold in them there hills...

Richard Hester


>I am building an IEC with 15kV 60 mA running on pure deuterium fuel. Will this be able to generate detectable neutrons? If I need for voltage, where can I get a transformer (I got mine from a neon sign vendor as a donation) that will produce the nesicsary voltage.