These two schemes seem to have in common the use of a spark plug gap to allow charge to build up in the collector and then discharge it suddenly. Why is this needed? Is it acting like a high-voltage diode, in a region where normal diodes would get fried regularly?
I wonder if you could draw the charge off more continuously and evenly, and perhaps get better efficiency, just by using an inductor and putting it through a normal diode. Perhaps the diode would be shielded from the high voltage by the inductor.
Are there normal diodes that would survive a forward bias of 1000 volts or so? How much do they cost?[ Parent ]
Are there normal diodes that would survive a forward bias of 1000 volts or so? How much do they cost?
They sure do make them. And they are free if you take some time to salvage a few microwaves. They also have high voltage capacitors in them, too.
I think the reason you need to let the charge accumulate for a period of time is that if it was connected to a load it would simply dissipate as low levels that would be unusable.
Cheers.
TomW
Contact: IRC
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Are you saying the charge would be dissipated due to resistive losses in any kind of circuit? I would think it would be stored in the magnetic field of an inductor or a charge in a capacitor. But, I guess these "storage" mechanisms will also dissipate due to field collapse/leakage before too long.
Seems like a real switch (mosfet, maybe? would it withstand the high voltage?) would be more efficient than a spark gap. What do you think?
I assume a buck-boost circuit is able to convert high volts/low amps to low volts/higher amps. I am still a bit confused about how this works, though: there are only a limited number of coulombs per second flowing into the input. Where do the other electrons come from?[ Parent ]
bob [ Parent ]
