Plasma Channel

15 Articles

Pushing The Plasma Limits With A Custom Flyback Transformer

October 22, 2024 by 18 Comments

For serious high-voltage plasma, you need a serious transformer. [Jay Bowles] from Plasma Channel is taking his projects to the next level, so he built a beefy 6000:1 flyback transformer.

[Jay] first built a driving circuit for his dream transformer, starting with a simple 555 circuit and three MOSFETs in parallel to handle 90 A of current. This led to an unexpected lesson on the necessity for transistor matching as one of them let out the Magic Smoke. On his second attempt, the 555 was swapped for an adjustable pulse generator module with a display, and a single 40 A MOSFET on the output.

The transformer is built around a large 98×130 mm ferrite core, with eleven turns on the primary side. All the hard work is on the secondary side, where [Jay] designed a former to accommodate three winding sections in series. With the help of the [3D Printing Nerd], he printed PLA and resin versions but settled on the resin since it likely provided better isolation.

[Jay] spent six hours of quality time with a drill, winding 4000 feet (~1200 m) of enameled wire. On the initial test of the transformer, he got inch-long arcs on just 6 V and 15 W of input power. Before pushing the transformer to its full potential, he potted the secondary side in epoxy to reduce the chances of shorts between the windings.

Unfortunately, the vacuum chamber hadn’t removed enough of the air during potting, which caused a complete short of the middle winding as the input started pushing 11 V. This turned the transformer into a beautiful copper and epoxy paperweight, forcing [Jay] to start again from scratch.

On the following attempt [Jay] took his time during the potting process, and added sharp adjustable electrodes to act as voltage limiters on the output. The result is beautiful 2.25-inch plasma arcs on only 11 V and 100 W input power. This also meant he could power it with a single 580 mAh 3S LiPo for power.

[Jay] plans to use his new transformer to test materials he intends to use in future plasma ball, ion thruster, and rail gun projects. We’ll be keeping an eye out for those!

Continue reading “Pushing The Plasma Limits With A Custom Flyback Transformer” →

20,000 Volt Plasma Knife Slices, Dices, And Sparks

February 9, 2024 by 5 Comments

For the most part, here at Hackaday we’re more interested in how something was made than the backstory on why an individual actually put it together. Frankly, it’s not really our business. But we’ve been around long enough to know that practicality isn’t always the driving force. Some folks build things because they want to challenge themselves, others because there’s nothing commercially available that quite meets their needs. Of course, there’s another camp that just builds things to look cool.

In the case of the plasma-infused blade [Jay Bowles] recently put together for Plasma Channel, we imagine it was a bit from each column. The basic inspiration was to create something in the style of the “Energy Sword” from Halo, but the resulting electrified blade is no mere prop. Inside the 3D printed enclosure, it packs not only the electronics necessary to produce 20,000 volts from the built-in battery pack, but a fan to help push the resulting plasma down the length of the two-piece steel blade.

As you might expect, it took a few attempts to get there. In the video after the break, [Jay] shows off the design process and some earlier incarnations of the plasma knife that didn’t quite live up to expectations. While there were always some impressive sparks, the spacing of the blades and the output power of the miniature high-voltage generator both needed fine tuning before it resulted in the band of plasma he was aiming for.

Is there a practical use for such a thing? Well the spark between the blades can apparently be used to light stuff on fire, and of course, you can cut things with it. But realistically…no, not really. It just looks cool, which is fine by us.

Should you prefer your high-voltage experimentation to have a more clearly defined goal, you might be interested in the ongoing work [Jay] has been doing with ionic propulsion and magnetohydrodynamic drives (MHDs).

Continue reading “20,000 Volt Plasma Knife Slices, Dices, And Sparks” →

Bulked Up MHD Drive Makes Waves While Standing Still

December 1, 2023 by 35 Comments

Looking back through the archives, we actually haven’t seen much in the way of homebrew magnetohydrodynamic drives (MHDs) — which is somewhat surprising, as the core concept isn’t nearly as complicated as its syllable-laden name might indicate. You can see results with little more than a magnet, a couple of electrodes, and a bench power supply. The trick is turning these base components into something that might actually have practical value.

That’s where we find [Jay Bowles], who has gone down a bit of a MHD rabbit hole these last few months. His latest MHD unit is a considerable improvement over its predecessor by all practical metrics, and as an added bonus, really nails the look of a futuristic propulsion unit. Even though the all-electric thruster hasn’t gone on a mission to anywhere more exotic than a table-top aquarium, you could easily imagine a pair of them slung under some top secret stealth watercraft.

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A Magnetohydrodynamic Drive In The Kitchen Sink

August 7, 2023 by 58 Comments

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) drive certainly sounds like something out of science fiction — using an array of magnets and electrodes, this high-tech propulsion technology promises to silently propel a craft through the water without any moving parts. As long as you can provide it with a constant supply of electricity, anyway.

Of course, as is often the case, the devil is in the details. Even with the obvious scientific and military applications of such a propulsion unit, scaling MHD technology up has proven difficult. But as [Jay Bowles] of Plasma Channel shows in his latest video, that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with the concept at home. Even better, getting verifiable results is much easier than you’d think.

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High Voltage Ion Engines Take Trip On The High Seas

June 12, 2023 by 21 Comments

Over the last several months, we’ve been enjoying a front-row seat as [Jay Bowles] of Plasma Channel has been developing and perfecting his design for a high voltage multi-stage ionic thruster. With each installment, the unit has become smaller, lighter, and more powerful. Which is important, as the ultimate goal is to power an RC aircraft with them.

There’s still plenty of work to be done before [Jay] will be able to take his creation skyward, but he’s making all the right moves. As a step towards his goal, he recently teamed up with [RcTestFlight] to attach a pair of his thrusters — which have again been further tweaked and refined since we last saw them — to a custom catamaran hull. The result is a futuristic craft that skims across the water with no moving parts and no noise…if you don’t count the occasional stray arc from the 40,000 volts screaming through its experimental thrusters, anyway. Continue reading “High Voltage Ion Engines Take Trip On The High Seas” →

Upgraded Plasma Thruster Is Smaller, More Powerful

March 30, 2023 by 19 Comments

When [Jay Bowles] demoed his first-generation ion thruster on Plasma Channel, the resulting video picked up millions of views and got hobbyists and professionals alike talking. While ionic lifters are nothing new, this robust multi-stage thruster looked (and sounded) more like a miniature jet engine than anything that had come before it. Optimizations would need to be made if there was even a chance to put the high-voltage powerplant to use, but [Jay] was clearly onto something.

Fast forward six months, and he’s back with his Mark II thruster. It operates under the same core principles as the earlier build, but swaps out the open-frame design and acrylic construction for a rigid 3D printed structure designed to more effectively channel incoming air. The end result is a thruster that’s smaller and has a lower mass, while at the same time boasting nearly double the exhaust velocity of its predecessor. Continue reading “Upgraded Plasma Thruster Is Smaller, More Powerful” →

Playing Music On A Custom Flyback Transformer

February 11, 2023 by 7 Comments

We’ve seen a number of people create plasma speakers over the years here at Hackaday, so at first blush, the latest Plasma Channel video from [Jay Bowles] might seem like more of the same. Even his overview of the assembly of the 555 timer circuit at the heart of the setup, as detailed as it may be, is something we’ve seen before.

But the back half of the video, where [Jay] talks about the flyback transformer used in this plasma speaker, really got our attention. You see, frustrated by the limited options on the market for AC flybacks, he set out to put together a custom transformer utilizing a 3D printed secondary former of his own design.

Winding an early version of the secondary with a drill.

Armed with a spare core, [Jay] spent some time in CAD coming up with his secondary. Despite never having built a flyback before, his first attempt managed to produce some impressive sparks — that is, until it arced through the printed plastic and released the critical Magic Smoke. Inspired by this early success, he went back to the digital drawing board and cranked his way through several different iterations until he came up with one that didn’t self-destruct.

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