Quote from: retrod on July 23, 2008, 11:42:34 AM
New video today of plasma & marble interaction. I used a different spark plug with a narrower gap so I could observe the pulse force a little closer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv_y3MH9-jc

RD

Hi retrod,
Also @ Dmoney and others with similar setups:
Can you adapt a long clear tube vertical filled with water over the sparkplug? Fill the tube with water and see how high the water will rise with the spark/explosion?

It's a cheap and quick way to measure approximately how much work energy you can get out of the spark with water as the exploding/expanding medium.
If the weight of the water column x the rise is greater than the energy used for the spark, then it would be the answer to a water engine.

Nice work all
Thanks

ps: for water vapor test, a more elaborate setup would be needed, e.g. a piston with good seals, a known weight on the other end, etc.

Edit to add:
On the water column calculation above, and to be more precise, the cross section area of the tube (ID) times the rise times one atmosphere_pressure needs to be added.

Has anyone tried using a nebulizer to create a water mist?

I just wanted to add that a HV microwave type diode placed in series with the HV lead
would work even better, because it would have a lot less loss. (about 8 volts loss).
Just place it in series at the terminal as it leaves the coil.
You might want to use 2 HV diodes just to be sure it can handle the voltage.
The spark gap is the cheapest way to go if you don't have the diodes.

I do believe the LV should be prevented from entering the HV coil.
Not only is power being wasted but it is setting up a magnetic field in the HV coil as well.

ps. Unless the LV entering the coil is setting up a needed field for this to work,
so experiments are needed to see what works better. 

@k4zep / Ben

The video I posted earlier made me think......maybe you need more water.  When he had a little water the bottle did not move, but with more water it explodes.  I believe that is because of displacement.

Darren

Hi all,

Gary , the general idea is say 4 pulses in a group each increasing in power ( height ) as the pulse train progresses. We can rig up some fancy electronics but someone will do that, if you have mechiancial knowledge then thats very welcome here.

One thought - 4 sprak plugs per cylinder ( they could be small ). The idea behind this is increasing the contact with the water to guarantee a big burn. Onviously this means increasing the electrical grunt to run them but thats easy to do. My thought are that water needs one helluva boot to get it moving and gassiefied, so I figure maybe 2 plugs give it the initial boot, then the 3rd & 4th give it the firing shot.

I'm hoping to do a basic proof of concept test for a single plug soon, and the quad plug idea later. The plugs dont have to be fancy at all - as long as they can carry current and 400V DC voltage.

Just a thought.

Cheers & beers,

Steve.