High current pulsed arc

Here is the capacitor discharge rig I made pulsing 3kJ into a plasma. The current is arround 30 kA and peak power is over 10 MW. The sound pressure alone can deafen you without ear protection. The 17mm^2 welding wire is distorted by Lorentz forces due to the high current. You can see the plasma projected along the bus bars into the skirting board! Amazingly the thyristor didn't blow up...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• arc
• plasma
• pulsed
• power
• high
• current
• induction
• lorentz
• capacitor
• bank
• thyristor

[narcoti]

wouldn't the 10ka melt that wire you have ?

[kimladha]

Yes, but the current only flows for a short time. The wire doesn't have a chance to heat up that much.

[Blodslav]

this has the makings of an awesome railgun.

[j822bosh]

Wow I can believe you did this on carpeting! You could have started a fire

[muraturile]

can you tell my what tipe of capacitor and thyristor you was use?