User:Gdewilde/Water capacitor

To deliver 5 ns rise time pulses, the Marx generator is often built into a coaxial wave guide. The spark gaps are placed as close as possible together for maximum UV light exchange for minimum jitter. DC HV comes from underneath, pulsed HV leaves at the top into the coaxial line. The double line of spheres in the middle are the spark gaps, all other spheres are to avoid corona discharge. Blue=water capacitor. Grey=solid metal. Black= thin wire. The outer conductor also functions as a vessel, so that the gas and the pressure can be optimized.

A water capacitor is a capacitor using water as it's dielectric material.

They are used in high power applications like pulse X ray or high power laser sources. They have various unique properties like their ability for self-healing, the ability to act like a fuse i.e. the water "boils" and disconnects the circuit. But even using high purity water (to reduce the conductivity) they only work for a very short time before they short.

• "Panasonic, the largest consumer electronics company in the world, tells us about a new home hi-fi system. This uses a "pure water capacitor for transparent sound reproduction". "Pure water capacitor helps improve sound purity," Panasonic explained when we asked for some more detail. "With its high water content, this capacitor provides excellent electrical characteristics and... the clean current it delivers helps the speakers produce a clear, pure transparent sound." Oh so that's it. To get clear sound you wash it in pure water. Doubtless it rates high on Creative's experience scale too."[[1]]

• "A pulsed power system composing of a Marx generator and a water capacitor has been used for a long time, and is a mature technology. Fig. 1 shows a typical pulsed power generator. A high voltage produced by the Marx generator charges the water capacitor."[[2]]

• Digest of Technical Papers By Thomas H. Martin, Arthur Henry Guenther, IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society[[3]]

also see

• Permittivity
• Capacitor plague
• Deionized water
• Magnetohydrodynamics