triggered spark gap peak power design for energy transfer/switching

[daqq]

I am after whatever allows for highest peak power.

Take a look at the offerings of Behlke... nasty pricing, but you can get insane parameters.

http://www.behlke.com/separations/separation_c2.htm
(or search their catalogue some more...)

[CopperCone]

Damn those specs are tight and they make me feel like a cave man

Anyway word on the street is that you can fire spark gaps using a bbq starter pretty good.

Hopefully it will have a kickass rise tieme but i feel that some kind of extension rod should be used to fire the bbq starter, just incase

I wonder if thrre is any benefit to the third electrode since the bbq starter voltage is like 6 times greater then the gap firing voltage

[Cyberdragon]

A piezoelectric igniter? I thought you wanted something automatic.

I'm not sure if the electrodes are always connected to the crystal inside, or if the piston/hammer is one of the electrodes. If they are connected, or since the gap will probably fire before the hammer retracts, remember that piezo's work both ways. If the crystal experiences repeated voltage shifts before recovering from the initial deformations, the stress may eventually shatter it. Would definitely depend on several things, but might be a long term issue.

Another thing, although it might shorten the igniter life even faster, would be to hit it with a rubber mallet.

[CopperCone]

Well I think its a good choice for testing

The fastest arcs are produced by trigger sparks several times greater then the gap spark voltage

The BBQ starter makes a arc that I read is between 15 to 30kV. Right now my capacitor bank is only 2kV, but at 5kV, the spark is still 3-6 times greater voltage then the main discharge energy. This should form the 'streamer discharge' discussed in some literature I read.

If I like what happens I will consider a making a very high voltage trigger circuit, but I don't have any ultra high voltage capacitors and shit lying around. I would consider making a oil/foil one for the trigger, if it works well.

http://www.gocs1.com/gocs1/Psionics/CHEAP-5Kv-CAPACITOR.htm
I think this can easily be modified to work with like 15-20kV.

I was hoping that since the BBQ piezeoelectric sparker generates a voltage much greater then the voltage of the spark gap, it will be OK.

I wonder if it is possible to isolate it by using a second spark gap, just for the piezo, that has a gap greater then the one required for the transmission of the load voltage, possibly with a delay.