For pulse networks, you should be using the least inductive connections you can create. Unless you are making slow waveforms with rise/fall times greater than a micro second or so, you should be using striplines. Copper or brass, as wide and as short as creepage/clearance considerations allow. Be sure all edges are smooth, clean, and radiused to help prevent arcing. Even the 1.2/50 combination wave generators benefit from minimizing internal inductance. As mentioned, connecting several caps in parallel produces better results than using a single cap. Use non-inductive resistors for the pulse-shaping circuits. Keep the whole circuit as compact as you can.
Regards, David Raynes Senior EMC Technologist National Technical Systems Inc. 5151 - 47th Street N.E. Calgary, Alberta Canada T3J 3R2 1-403-568-6605 x227 Fax: 1-403-568-6970 david.ray...@ntscorp.com From: emc-p...@ieee.org [mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org] On Behalf Of Brian O'Connell Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 11:43 To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG Subject: RE: [PSES] Discharge capacitors For this particular application, how does the ribbon stuff compares to braided ground straps? I am about to build something similar, and would like to know if someone has already experimented with this. thanks, Brian From: emc-p...@ieee.org [mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org]On Behalf Of Fred Townsend Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:36 AM To: ola...@juno.com Cc: lfresea...@aol.com; EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG Subject: Re: [PSES] Discharge capacitors Derek : I think Orin offers good advice. You also need to pay attention to your network geometry. i.e. Inductance is your enemy. Two 10 uF caps in parallel are better than one 20 uF. Straight runs of ribbon wire are better than coils of round wire. Regards, Fred Townsend DC to Light ola...@juno.com wrote: The usual suspects are NWL in North Carolina, CSI in California, and General Atomics (formerly Maxwell). They all know what they are doing and have low inductance pulse rated caps capable of multi-kiloamp discharge peaks. Orin Laney / Atwood Research On Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:04:51 -0500 lfresea...@aol.com writes: Good morning folks, I have been working on improving the quality of my lightning simulator and have come to the conclusion that I need better capacitors. Can anyone share their opinions on manufacturers and/or models that are appropriate. An offline response may be appropriate. Sincerely, Derek Walton L F Research - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <emcp...@socal.rr.com> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <emcp...@socal.rr.com> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>