Reply To: NIMBY FUD
The Focus Fusion Society › Forums › Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Experiment (LPPX) › Arcing problems. The how, what, where, and why. › Reply To: NIMBY FUD
asymmetric_implosionOur experience with indium contacts was they tended to melt and solder the parts together.
If you can share, what is the size of the contact (thickness and diameter if circular)? You might need to move to a larger diameter contact or a contact with more surface area and many more bolts. I know we doubled the bolts in our tightening pattern at one point and it dramatically improved our contact reliability. I think the preferred strategy is to use many smaller bolts rather than a few larger ones. This leads to a more uniform contact like a conflat flange. Are you tightening the bolts in a pattern that leads to smooth and uniform draw-dwon on the contact? If you are arcing at one location, it can be due to a bad tightening pattern.
The other question that might be relevant is the inductance of the contact area. Are you sure that inductance isn’t the problem at the contact and the current is jumping the contact in favor of air or fuel gas leading to discharge.