Triboelectric Particles in a Pipe Electrostatic Generator

[@Antivolt2]

Looks like a Pauthenier Generator. Very interesting. One of the most curious, through not really successful, modification of the Van de Graff generator had been conceived around 1936 in France by M.Pauthenier, professor of physics at La Sorbonne in Paris .In fact, he proposed to use a flow of charged dust particles circulating in a closed insulating pipe instead of the classical belt of the original apparatus. The dust was composed of glass spheres of a few microns in diameter. A blower produced a 60 in.p.s flow of these particles in the loop-pipe. For charging the dust there was a 'ionizer', which was composed by several wires parallel to the pipe. The wires were negatively charged (12,000 volts) by a kenotron rectifier and the electric fields of the wires ionized the gas molecules. The positive ions were immediately attracted by the wires, while negative ones were repelled in the direction of the walls of the pipe and charged the dust particles. Great care had to be taken for adjusting the various parameters (diameter and speed of the particles, voltage of the wire, diameter of the ionizing tube) so that the dust did not precipitate on the wall of the tube but could continue its journey after having been charged. At the top bend of the pipe the charged dust entered in a kind of centrifugal collector, which was connected with the spherical terminal electrode of the generator. In the collector the charges of the particle were transferred to the electrode.

[@anisotropicplus]

Thank you for the very informative comment.

[@brainretardant]

Similar to our water cloud rain cycle

[@leobluesy]

Really interesting......

[@anisotropicplus]

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