F.I.C.S. Gets Faraday Cage
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:28 am
Hi Guys,
The last couple of weeks I have been busy with upgrades to the F.I.C.S. reactor. First of all the gas handling system needed improving, the laser drilled orifice with a 5 micron hole, which bleeds gas into the cathode was either too small or clogged, probably the latter, and the system stopped working. I have replaced the leak with a Swagelok 1/4" needle valve. This valve almost leaks too much when closed, but with my 100mm turbo pump, I can still maintain a steady 10 micron pressure by slightly opening the big gate valve. the needle valve can be adjusted via an acrylic rod from a safe distance (trick learned from John Futter).
Unlike a normal fusor, the F.I.C.S. reactor has an exposed cathode and floating gas system, the whole thing was pretty risky, and I was concerned about accidentally touching the components, so I have added a Faraday cage, built from 4.5 mm acrylic sheet and bird wire. This might also shield out some RF and keep my instruments quiet.
Further I have added a National Instruments DAQ, so I can record the pressure, cathode voltage, neutrons and current during my experiments using the simple version of LabView.
There are a few remaining issues that need to be sorted out before I can get on with round two of my experiments.
1) The Gamma High Voltage (RR100-6N) is on the blink, it intermittently cuts out.
2) Need some more Swagelok fittings to connect sample cylinder to main cylinder for filling.
I should get around 30-60 minutes of experimenting from each refill to 2 bar (50cc sample cylinder)
Steven Sesselmann
http://www.beeresearch.com.au
The last couple of weeks I have been busy with upgrades to the F.I.C.S. reactor. First of all the gas handling system needed improving, the laser drilled orifice with a 5 micron hole, which bleeds gas into the cathode was either too small or clogged, probably the latter, and the system stopped working. I have replaced the leak with a Swagelok 1/4" needle valve. This valve almost leaks too much when closed, but with my 100mm turbo pump, I can still maintain a steady 10 micron pressure by slightly opening the big gate valve. the needle valve can be adjusted via an acrylic rod from a safe distance (trick learned from John Futter).
Unlike a normal fusor, the F.I.C.S. reactor has an exposed cathode and floating gas system, the whole thing was pretty risky, and I was concerned about accidentally touching the components, so I have added a Faraday cage, built from 4.5 mm acrylic sheet and bird wire. This might also shield out some RF and keep my instruments quiet.
Further I have added a National Instruments DAQ, so I can record the pressure, cathode voltage, neutrons and current during my experiments using the simple version of LabView.
There are a few remaining issues that need to be sorted out before I can get on with round two of my experiments.
1) The Gamma High Voltage (RR100-6N) is on the blink, it intermittently cuts out.
2) Need some more Swagelok fittings to connect sample cylinder to main cylinder for filling.
I should get around 30-60 minutes of experimenting from each refill to 2 bar (50cc sample cylinder)
Steven Sesselmann
http://www.beeresearch.com.au