*** Note added May 2002: The following information pertains to Justin's first SSTC. LOOK AT THOSE GATE WAVEFORMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not bad for a first attempt I guess, I mean, it worked. That's all I cared about at the time! -- end of note.

In the pictures labeled "HV testing", this is how it was set up when we ran into some reliability problems. We used Aron's beautiful new power supply to power the coil, it makes 0 - 400V with the option of 1/2 wave rectified, full wave, or filtered DC output...perfect for SSTC experimentation. Anyhow, we ran the voltage up slowly to 100V...sparks are about 4" long (I forget exact sparklengths vs. voltage.....don't count on those figures...) So we run the voltage up to 100, and Aron pulls an arc off with a wrench, and the fuse blows. To make a long one short, one of the SF56 high-speed diodes died, as well as only a single (surprising) MOSFET. After replacing the two relatively expensive parts, Aron keeps his hands away from the output, at least until we get the problems solved ; )

The superfast diodes are rated 400V, the MOSFET's are IRFP460's rated 500V @ 20A. We think the main problem is that the electronics weren't in an RF tight enclosure. All KINDS of stuff was getting coupled to other stuff, we found the coil to be MUCH more reliable with tin foil wrapped around it. And we all know that tin-foil-wrapped-electronics is hell to work with, so we're bolting everything in a nice metal case tomorrow when we wake up at lunchtime. (I JUST DID, I also ran coax to the isolation transformers and to the tuning pot.....everything is MUCH more stable)

I found it neat that I could hold a resistor by one of its leads and watch it burn in my fingertips. HVRF fields around SSTC's are so cool.

As for the arc pics...we wrapped the digital camera in aluminum foil for RF shielding, so we could get very close to the output. The pictures are acceptable I guess, not bad, but not that great either.