This 300 kg x-ray transformer 60 kV DC at 300 mA has 3 phase 240 V 45 A input. It is capable of making an arc drawn out to 2 feet just on 1 phase 240 V so it is a serious piece of HV gear.
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The transformer has everything under oil including multiple rectifiers for the 3 phases.
The x-ray transformer 60 kV face plate specifications.
Above: The spark initiates at about 1 inch. It is current limited by the water resistor.
The spark “escapes” to the back plane. The 3 spark contacts are bizarre but probably are two events captured on one 1/30 sec exposure. The spark was between the two lower electrodes then changed to the left electrode and the base plane.
Above shows the series of 4 photos of the spark initially jumping just over 1 inch to my 200 kOhm water resistor for current limiting. The second photo shows the spark jumping to the sheet metal back that I has too close. It then began to “climb” and stretch out. This is now the full output with no resistor. It reaches it’s full height at 26 inches before extinguishing like a Jacobs ladder. My wife came out to see why the power had “browned out” in the house.
Input power for the spark through the resistor is 25 A measured by a clamp meter at perhaps 100 V. I didn’t take current measurements with the spark above but the input voltage was set on the variac at 200 V so perhaps 50 A = 12 kW. It didn’t trip a 20 A breaker possibly because each run was only a couple of seconds.
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Photo Date: 2008