Dear
Trond,
No, we use microwave switching techniques.
It's easy to control the rise times and decay times with
semiconductor switching. If
one makes too sharp edges, the E-fields become so high that they
rupture the insulation on the coils and short them out.
So one has to strike a happy medium.
Cheers,
Tom
Bearden
Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 13:38:24 +0200
To: announce@cheniere.org
From: Trond
Subject: A sharp cutoff needed?
(please forward to appropriate person(s))
Hi, MEG people!
I have recently discovered your web pages. Fascinating.
I am a control engineer, not an electrodynamics person, so I am not
able to follow all the Maxwellian theoretical stuff, but I think I am
starting to get the gist of Bearden's arguments.
Anyway, I have a question relating to the input coil in the MEG: If I
understand
its workings correctly, it is very important to achieve a sharpest
possible cutoff in the input coil current, to achieve the highest dPhi/dt
from the permanent magnet through the output coils. Do you do that by
simply breaking the input coil circuit? Don't you get the problem with
the magnetic energy having to be dissipated in the form of an arc
between the contacts?
Or do you dissipate the energy through a resistor because of this,
leading to a less sharp current cutoff in the input coil than you
would have liked?
Cheers,
Trond
Norway