Pseudospark Switch Operation
Picture of pseudospark switch, under a dynamic vacuum (valve open to
running pump) of 100 microns (0.13 mBar), overvoltaged at 3000 volts.
How useless is that? I think the problem is the aspect ratio of the
slots, which are 0.094" wide, but only 0.065" deep. A re-examination
of the patents suggests that this is back-asswards and results in paths
that are long enough to allow collisional ionization to occur. A
better vacuum would probably help also. I have drawn up plans for
a new version (glass envelope, thicker electrodes, deeper and narrower
slots)...