Project Spark
Real world application
It starts with a small spark
The idea arose from an electromagnet. The device was being used to pick up paper clips from inside a bottle. The magnet was made by winding enamelled copper wire around an iron nail. When ends of the coil was connected to a 9V battery the paper clips were suddenly attracted.
The wire needed to wound close together to ensure that the magnetic fields of the individual turnings could interact. This proved to be a difficult task to do by hand. Once I had wound a layer it needed to be fixed in place with some super glue or tape. To save time, I secured a PVC pipe to my drill and fed the wire as carefully as I could. When it was finished I coated it in a layer of epoxy to reduce the chances of the layers getting scratched and exposed to short circuit.
The coil would later be connected to a spark gap which is explained below.
Once the capacitors have reached their maximum capacity, a spark will form along the two terminals of the spark gap.
The parts of the project
Capacitors
The Rotary Coil
The Spark Gap
Once the capacitors fully charged they will be discharged by a spark gap. The spark gap will be connected to the two terminals of the coil. The electrons momentarily flow through the coil resulting in a surrounding magnetic field. As the electrons only flow through momentarily this magnetic filed will peak and be cut off in a fraction of a second. This is known as an electromagnetic pulse, which can interferer with devices such as a calculators.
The Spark Gap
The Rotary Coil
The Spark Gap
The rotary spark gap makes works by creating a momentary short circuit. As the wheel/disk spins the conductive plates come into close contact with the positive and negative terminals. At this fraction of a second the plate is close enough for a spark to occur. The build up repulsion of electrons on the negative terminal causes them to be able to move across an air gap. This can be heard as a "Crack". In more extreme rotary spark gaps, laser emissions may be released.
The Rotary Coil
The Rotary Coil
What is a capacitor?
With the combination of bismuth rings and custom made ballbearings the the coil was able to spin. This causes the poles on the magnetic filed to oscillate. When the poles oscillate any electrons that are not protected will start to malfunction. Electronics can be protect using a thin layer of bismuth.
The USA Dooms Day Plane has been designed to withstand the blast from an EMP. When a nuclear blast occurs an electro magnetic wave is emitted and can cause interference to instruments in planes.
What is a capacitor?
Materials used in a Spark Gap
What is a capacitor?
A capacitor has the ability to temporarily store charge. The stored charge can be dumped within fractions of a second when the two terminals are connected. The battery however cannot release all of its stored charge at once and instead slowly releases it over time.
Materials used in a Spark Gap
Materials used in a Spark Gap
Materials used in a Spark Gap
The spark gap requires a nonconductive material that can withstand temperatures between 170 - 200°C. The disc will be spinning at a high rate and will need to retain its shape and structural integrity. If the disc starts to deform it will collide with the two conductive terminals.
Custom ball bearing
Materials used in a Spark Gap
Materials used in a Spark Gap
In order for the inner cylinders to rotate smoothly the cylinders need to sit inside a number of ball bearings. Most of the available ball bearings do not offer a desirable inner diameter. The custom bearing will require the help of a CNC machine.
PROTOTYPES (TESTING VARIOUS CAPACITORS)
Drone Shield
Alongside Project Spark
While I was facing all the design challenges on my own a company called drone shield created the Mark 3. This team of highly trained experts created a counter intelligence device that could be used to rid the sky of any nuisance drones. It did not however, use an electromagnetic pulse.
The Mark 3 used radio waves to interfere with the receiver, the users controller. A Radio waves are able to travel a greater distance than electromagnetic waves. This is especially important as most modern drones are capable of flying to heights over 50m.
It is currently being used at JFK airport to ensure that there are no illegal drones flying over the airport. This is a serious criminal offence and can have a jail sentence of between 6-9 years.
The Mark 3 is not available to commercial sale. The US military has many UAV, unmanned aerial vehicle, operations that could be compromised by a device designed to bring down drones. The UAV is controlled by a similar radio frequency to that of commercial drones.
minor Improvements
Coil Winding
Tungsten Electrodes
Tungsten Electrodes
The made winding the coil a much quicker task. With a diameter of roughly 0.5mm this coil has over 2000 turns. The height of the coil is 8.7mm and the radius is 3.5mm. The ratio of these variables is very important, further calculation checks need to be implemented before building this device.
Tungsten Electrodes
Tungsten Electrodes
Tungsten Electrodes
Over time the copper electrodes may start to wear out. The gap between the two conductive terminals will start to increase. The increase in air gap will require more energy to overcome, thus the capacitors will not be able to discharge without intervention.