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How The Gray Tube Works
How The Gray Tube Works
com
Copyright 2009 Aaron Murakami All Rights Reserved
www.whitedragonpress.com
Copyright 2009 Aaron Murakami All Rights Reserved
www.whitedragonpress.com
Copyright 2009 Aaron Murakami All Rights Reserved
Anyway, C1 gets charged as I show...directly from the power supply, over HV rod directly over gap to
the GRIDS, through inductor and to C2...that is exactly how C2 is charged.
The C2-cap/Load-inductor, I suppose can be tuned for resonance at whatever frequency the power
supply is operating at for maximum efficiency in charging that capacitor. The wire on the Gray motor
appears to be pretty large diameter.
Then while C2 is charged up -- the commutator or whatever turns on the switch at the LV ROD gives a
low potential path to ground for C2 to discharge to.
If grids are only covering the HV rod, then C2 can't jump directly to LV rod, it must jump to HV rod
first forcing a collision into HV + potential of C1, THEN, it jumps to LV rod back to ground.
It is of course very apparent that the power supply + potential is also at the HV rod in addition to
whatever charge is in C1...so C2 is colliding with that as well (if and only if the power supply happens
to be on a ON cycle at that time).
My grids are almost 1 cm from the rods so they obviously need to be closer if C2 is going to be able to
discharge during the OFF cycle of the power supply.
But if the power supply is operating at 6khz for example, then there will almost be a continuous spark
from HV rod to Grids for practical purposes and therefore will act as a conductive pathway for C2 to
discharge over towards the Grids. If this is the case, then a wider gap beyond the breakdown gap for C2
can be there.
My C2 was discharging as low as about 700 volts over a gap of almost 1 cm from Grids to HV rod and
was able to do so only when it met with a HV spark from HV rod to Grid from the power supply.
I believe that it makes the most sense to have the grids only over HV rod and not the whole setup for
these reasons of forcing the collision with the HV potential of C1.
I also think that the spacing between HV rod and Grids should be close enough so that the potential in
C2 could discharge when LV Rod is switched on all by itself without having to have the power supply
on. With keeping the ROD gap the same, there could be a comparison between C2 discharging by itself
with close gap or using HV spark form HV rod and compare coil-popping strength...that is the only sure
way to know what is best.
The spacing between the HV rod and LV rod should be worked out by having the gap wider and closer
and seeing what makes a stronger pop at the coil...that is the only way to know.
So, after all, it is about discharging from the Grids (C2) into the tube and not the other way around.
PDF of this explanation: How The Gray Tube Works
www.whitedragonpress.com
Copyright 2009 Aaron Murakami All Rights Reserved