LIGHT SOURCES

6-31
FIG. 6-26. Flash lamps mounted in typical enclosures.
Power supply. The basic elements include a step-up transformer and
a rectifier to obtain the high-voltage direct current required to charge the
condenser and some means of limiting the charging current of the con-
denser to the safe limits of the rectifying tubes and transformers. This
limiter may be either a resistor or reactor connected in series with the
condenser on the charging side or a high-leakage reactance characteristic
in the step-up transformer itself. A typical circuit is shown in Fig. 6-27..
RECTIFIER
FLASHTUBE
FIG. 6-27. Basic elements of typical flash-lamp power supply.
In one type of flashing circuit an extremely high potential (of the order
of 10,000 volts or more) is momentaiily applied to the wall of the tube,
producing a brilliant flash of light of extremely short duration. When the
condenser charge has been almost entirely expended, the voltage across the
terminals drops to a low value, the tube ceases to conduct, and the con-
denser proceeds to accumulate the charge required for the next flash.
Another circuit utilizes flashlamps which operate without separate
ionizing potential. In this type the lamp is not connected across the
terminals of the condenser until it is desired to flash the tube and the tube
itself is designed to flash over at the potential of the charge in the con-
denser. The power-supply design is thus simplified, but it is necessary to
employ a switch which can handle the high voltages and momentarily
high currents involved.
Limits
of
energy input. For single-flash operation, the limit to the
amount of energy which can be consumed depends upon the desired lamp