Mercury Arc Rectifier - Manx Electric Railway - Laxey I.O.M.

[lolman2008112]

Eire yet fascinating

[DJelectfire]

Oh... my... that is so beautiful to watch... would be a pity to see it replaced my plain solid state.... at least put this in a museum and set it up so that it is running...

[Beccacubbon]

I live there

[pgriffit0]

@Beccacubbon I live near Laxey

[Beccacubbon]

I've been to the isle of man

[b43xoit]

What is the modern replacement? A silicon rectifier? It will cut the power dissipation to what proportion of that of the mercury arc rectifier, for a given current?

[pgriffit0]

@b43xoit There is a plan to replace the whole power supply with solid state rectifiers (probably silicon). I would think a modern power supply would also contain some form of switched mode voltage regulation and over current protection

[b43xoit]

Current and power dissipation?

[pgriffit0]

@b43xoit I seem to remember that the output ammeter showed a a couple of hundred amps. The power unit has a matched pair of rectifiers and looking at the cabling, I would guess that each rectifier is a 3-phase unit and that the pair together provide full wave rectification. I'll do some research to try and find some technical specs.

[pgriffit0]

yep that's it exactly

[soverato3]

so this is used for converting AC to DC to power trains?

[angrymarketing5]

This is how Black Mesa happened.

[CrispinProctor69]

@angrymarketing5

That is the thing in the final stage of HL1

[pgriffit0]

You're right about U.V., however, the borosilicate glass does act as quite an efficient filter. Dangerous levels would be associated with reddening of the skin, Exposure was very limited with absolutely no sign of health problems. The blue glow is characteristic of Mercury lighting and most of it is in the visible part of the spectrum. The device is quite awesome to behold. 

[Kirill92omsk]

In your place I would not look on such an instrument because of the extreme ultraviolet radiation.

[MsMarciax]

Beautiful...

Shame to lose another working historical electronics component masterpiece :)

[pgriffit0]

I'm convinced it's extra-terrestrial

[mimieowcat]

it`s a satan`s stuff!!!

[pgriffit0]

thanks

[AintBigAintClever]

Nice :)

[avonsearider]

素晴らしい動画です。日本ではこの水銀ランプ整流器は映画館など­でよく使用されていました。現在、この水銀整流器はほとんど存在­しません。貴重な動画です。