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Beyond the Demonstration Fusor

DEMONSTRATION FUSOR

The equipment as initially assembled in the Haylett garage.  The power supply and the vacuum gauge are both out of view.

The meters (photographed later on) indicating 7839 volts, and 6.74 milliamperes.

At slightly lower pressure, the bugle becomes an electron beam, and begins localized heating of the bell jar wall (Not good!).

(Above) A clearly formed plasma "bugle".

As the pressure falls still further, the voltage rises and the current decreases. By around 7500 to 8000 volts, all signs of the bugle and electron beam are gone, and a star begins to form (left).

As the pressure drops further, the voltage continues to rise,  the current continues to fall, and the plasma star gets dimmer. At around 9500 volts, the plasma extinguishes. At that moment, the current drops to essentially zero, and the voltage climbs to the power supply's maximum - around 10,700 volts.

Results of New Grid and Modified Power Supply

Although still just a demonstration fusor, and still using air rather than deuterium, a clearly formed "fusion star" is visible, with a ray coming out of the center of each opening in the grid.    (Right) Records were unfortunately lost, but the operating voltage at the time is believed to have been around 15,000 volts, with a current of between 3 and 4 mA. At this time we still did not have a calibrated pressure gauge available. The inner grid used was slightly smaller than the first inner grid. The power supply still used a 15,000 volt, 30 mA neon sign transformer, but with the center tap ground removed so that the full 15,000 volts could be rectified with a full-wave bridge rectifier. The output was then filtered with a 35,000 volt, 30 nF cap. and current limited with a resistance of approx. 70 K ohms. The rectifier and resistors were kept submerged in oil. Open-circuit voltage of this power supply is close to 22,000 Volts DC.

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Beyond the Demonstration Fusor