1/8 Ultra High DC Voltage Generator

[dragehest]

This is outside what this forum is about, but i am too eager to get back into model building and making build threads so here is my 1/8 scale Ultra High voltage generator model build thread.

The model is meant to illustrate a student project witch is planned to be presented in june 2019. The project involves a high voltage generator, this one is made from 3x334kV generators capable of producing 1 million volts at 10mA. The generator itself stands 9.5m (31 feet) tall.

The model will work like a interactive museum piece with two buttons. The first button will show the generator charge the system and the second button will show the student project doing its thing.

This is two pictures i have found on google, the top picture shows a similar base to what i am building, the second picture shows the ring thorus and what i assume is a 2x500kV generator. Please note the imense scale on the high voltage lab equipment.

First i have made a working model in fusion 360. Materials used is different PVC and PTFE tubing, laser cut PMMA, 3D printed PLA and nylon screws.

Base with caster wheels

One of three identical 334kV generator modules

The internals for making the ends light up

The Build process

Gluing the base I-beam

Test fitting the laser cut PMMA and 3D printed profiles

After a horrible spray paint job, the quality of the model is suffering from me not doing anything like this in a long time.

The fillet in the I-beam is made from car filler

The generator main body is a 100mm PVC ventilation pipe

This is a test to see if the 80% transparent PMMA will transport and diffuse light from the LED strip, i have ordered a LED strip with more leds per meter

I am not able to get further until more oredred parts arrive. I am waiting for M2 nylon screws for "bolting" the flanges together, different kinds of tubing for the toroid isolators, LED strips and more arduino parts for the light.

 

[dragehest]

Here is an update, i have completed all components for the generator. The IO test and all the lights in the generator works, now i need to mount everything properly and do the final glue up.

Pictures for the wiring, i did not think ahead about how i would wire this, i did not do any calculations of power consumption. Each ring is pulling 0.5A at 12V and the top thorus is pulling 3.5A at 12V witch is 72W total. In my mind LEDs dont use any power so this is a lesson for future projects. However all of the lights will not be lit at the same time, hopefully the wiring will be sufficent and not overheat.

I went through a few revisions on the thorus. I wanted the thorus to light up to indicate charge on the generator. and i wanted the individual rings to glow, not have a bulb in the center. I started with PE tube with a LED strip in, i tried PTFE tubing but it was impossible to get the rings evenly round, with 11 rings it looked very messy with 11 slightly out of round rings. I ended up with printing the rings in PLA, the largest rings are made out of 8 sections because my printer does not have large enough bed. Therefor the rings have a lot of seams, but they are not that visible.

First test assembly, the model is 98cm high.

I made my first PCB in this project. I ordered them from JCLPCB, 2$ for 5pc plus shipping (!!!) they will help to elevate the model.

The pcb is very simple, it is just a fancy terminal for all the connections to a arduino nano, some transistors for the 12V led strips and all the resistors in the model is on this board.

Last i have a small clip from the successful IO test. My workshop is very bright, about 2000lux so the leds does not look as bright in the video. It is plenty bright enough to work in a standard indoor enviroment.

https://imgur.com/ZSdD38P

 

[dragehest]

https://imgur.com/bA5zBnK

 

[kruleworld]

That's a very impressive display. I hope it serves your project well. It may not be normal for this forum, but its the same skill set and should still show off your modeling skills.

 

[dragehest]

Thank you, the model was a huge hit at the presentation. It is now displayed on a permanent basis in the office of the designers of the machine.

I really enjoy hard edge model building, specially making models that is unique and not available for purchase.