Capacitor to store lightning?

[billvon]

No rewiring is necessary for this circuit. All you have to do is to find a way to discharge those caps one at a time.

Well, more like "in parallel" which is what the ICL7660 does. Take a look at the data sheet; it does what you describe with no rewiring, just switching.

Again, the circuitry that is in my 90% complete patent application does not use current dividers or voltage dividers.

Right, neither does the ICL7660. A doubler (or halver) is fundamentally different than a divider.

 

[BennyF]

Well, more like "in parallel" which is what the ICL7660 does. Take a look at the data sheet; it does what you describe with no rewiring, just switching.

This was at the top of Google's search:

http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/ICL7660-MAX1044.pdf

I note that the operating supply voltage range is from a volt and a half to ten volts. The teacher in my electronics school, 30 years ago, told the class that the human body naturally generates a volt and a half, which he said was enough to fry a CMOS chip. Because of this fact, whenever we handled one, we had to have a grounding strip attached to our wrists.

Is there any integrated circuitry that can deal with hundreds of volts, or even thousands?

 

[billvon]

The teacher in my electronics school, 30 years ago, told the class that the human body naturally generates a volt and a half, which he said was enough to fry a CMOS chip.

The human body generates a lot more than that! The IEC 1000-4-2 ESD specification calls out four standards for ESD protection (electrostatic discharge.) The highest level, presumably a worst case, is 8000 volts at 150pF while touching a device. (The 150pf is a capacitor that mimics the charge storage ability of a human body.)

Fortunately, nowadays most IC's contain protection diodes that prevent ESD damage by shunting the charge to ground.

Because of this fact, whenever we handled one, we had to have a grounding strip attached to our wrists.

Yep. They are still common nowadays even though most devices are now protected. But back before ESD protection (80's, early 90's) they were vital.

Is there any integrated circuitry that can deal with hundreds of volts, or even thousands?

Sure, several hundred volts is pretty easy. But since geometries get drastically bigger at those voltages, beyond about 100 volts it is common to move the switching device out of the IC and on to a separate part (a discrete FET for example.)

 

[phlogistician]

I predict a loud "pop"....followed by copious amounts of smoke.

Ah, I recall the day, eager to test my 'O' level project, I switched the PSU on, for there to be a popping noise, something hit me in the forehead, and there was that familiar acrid smell, ... and in my haste, I'd plugged the 555 timer into it's socket the wrong way around, and it had literally blown up.

I then had to run to the electronics store during my lunch break of my Saturday job to buy another.

But yes, in Benny's case, if he gets lightning to strike his capacitors, I think he'll need a fire-extinguisher.

 

[BennyF]

Benny, you can't catch lightning in a box. Doesn't matter what's in the box, electronic components, coils, wires, capacitors, the lightning will not want to be trapped, it wants to find a path to Earth, end of story

Lightning isn't an intelligent "being" with "wants". It is a discharge of electricity from a charged cloud.

Because that's what it is, all those who care about scientific principles, even those of us whose scientific knowledge is somewhat less than ideal, will be discussing it in scientific terms.

There will be no discharge of anything unless the charge has been built up enough to overcome the resistance of the air in between that cloud and another separate object with a charge of the opposite polarity. The NWS says that 90% of the time, the other object will be another cloud.

Even when the other object, one with a high amount of charge in the opposite polarity, is an object on the ground, this charge can be focused on the uppermost point of a lightning rod. If this is the shortest path to the opposite charge, then an ionized column will set up a conductive link from the cloud to anything connected to the lightning rod, and that could be a bank of capacitors in hundreds of current-dividing branches.

As for the rest of you 'points', ... well, none of them change the fact you cannot catch lightning in a box.

Boxes are good for storing objects with a physical size and a shape, but not so good for storing electricity. I prefer to use capacitors for this purpose.

If you want serious answers, you have to ask serious questions.

 

[BennyF]

Ah, I recall the day, eager to test my 'O' level project, I switched the PSU on, for there to be a popping noise, something hit me in the forehead, and there was that familiar acrid smell, ... and in my haste, I'd plugged the 555 timer into it's socket the wrong way around, and it had literally blown up.

I then had to run to the electronics store during my lunch break of my Saturday job to buy another.

That's a good start for your science fiction story, Phil. Let us know when you finish it.

 

[phlogistician]

Lightning isn't an intelligent "being" with "wants". It is a discharge of electricity from a charged cloud.

Benny, I'll say it again. Lightning wants to find a path to ground. I never said it was intelligent, or a being, or that it wasn't a discharge of electricity.

But that path to ground is the raison d'etre for lightning. Without, it, no discharge.

Boxes are good for storing objects with a physical size and a shape, but not so good for storing electricity. I prefer to use capacitors for this purpose.

Doesn't matter what's inside your box Benny, or how those items are arranged, you cannot catch lightning in a box. No arrangement of capacitors inside your insulated box is going to catch lightning.

 

[phlogistician]

That's a good start for your science fiction story, Phil. Let us know when you finish it.

Benny, you have yet to show any provenance that you graduated from this alleged Electronics course. Mac and I have shown you our certificates, and that guy that popped onto this thread reckons you don't even own a computer.

You have a lot to prove, not least the ridiculous claims you can catch lightning and store it.

 

[BennyF]

The human body generates a lot more than that! The IEC 1000-4-2 ESD specification calls out four standards for ESD protection (electrostatic discharge.) The highest level, presumably a worst case, is 8000 volts at 150pF while touching a device. (The 150pf is a capacitor that mimics the charge storage ability of a human body.)

It sounds like we're both right. The body generates a charge of a volt and a half, but we can store higher charges if we come into contact with something else that already has a charge, like wall-to-wall carpeting, for instance, prior to the familiar experience of touching a doorknob. In that case, our charge could be, as you said, much higher, but I doubt that it could be as high as 8 KV.

 

[MacGyver1968]

That's a good start for your science fiction story, Phil. Let us know when you finish it.

Huh? Science fiction? You don't believe he blew up a 555 timer? Shiiiiiit....when I get back from the store, I'll tell you the story about how I blew up a $50,000 prototype tanning bed in front of the big wigs of the company.

 

[BennyF]

Benny, I'll say it again. Lightning wants to find a path to ground. I never said it was intelligent, or a being, or that it wasn't a discharge of electricity.

You can say it a thousand times, Phil, and you'll be wrong a thousand times. Lightning doesn't have wants, it has electrical energy and a variety of visible and invisible radiation.

But that path to ground is the raison d'etre for lightning. Without, it, no discharge.

You're still wrong, and you still don't know it. A discharge will always happen if the charge on an object is higher than the breakdown resistance of whatever separates it from another object with a charge of the opposite polarity.

Doesn't matter what's inside your box Benny, or how those items are arranged, you cannot catch lightning in a box. No arrangement of capacitors inside your insulated box is going to catch lightning.

Please forget the "box" concept. I'm not a cabinetmaker, I'm an amateur inventor, trying to earn a US Patent for a unique idea for charging an electrical capacitor.

 

[BennyF]

Huh? Science fiction? You don't believe he blew up a 555 timer? Shiiiiiit....when I get back from the store, I'll tell you the story about how I blew up a $50,000 prototype tanning bed in front of the big wigs of the company.

You could probably "blow up" any chip-based circuitry by reversing the direction of the current into the two power pins, but just for the thrill of it, tell us more about the tanning bed. Were there any naked movie stars in it? Were you trying to cook vegetables in it? Did you turbocharge the power supply to it somehow?

 

[phlogistician]

Hey Benny, is this you:

http://vimeo.com/user1400841/videos

??

 

[BennyF]

Benny, you have yet to show any provenance that you graduated from this alleged Electronics course. Mac and I have shown you our certificates, and that guy that popped onto this thread reckons you don't even own a computer.

You have a lot to prove, not least the ridiculous claims you can catch lightning and store it.

I don't need to prove anything to you, Phil. My goals were stated many months ago.

1. Patent
2. Profit

 

[phlogistician]

You can say it a thousand times, Phil, and you'll be wrong a thousand times. Lightning doesn't have wants, it has electrical energy and a variety of visible and invisible radiation.

No, Benny, really, lightning wants to strike the Earth. Potential difference makes that happen. It doesn't want to get stuck in a box.

You're still wrong, and you still don't know it. A discharge will always happen if the charge on an object is higher than the breakdown resistance of whatever separates it from another object with a charge of the opposite polarity.

Yeah, and IF that lightning strikes your apparatus, your apparatus will get burned out, because the lightning AS IT EARTHS ITSELF will breakdown the conductor in your capacitors, rendering them useless.


Please forget the "box" concept. I'm not a cabinetmaker, I'm an amateur inventor, trying to earn a US Patent for a unique idea for charging an electrical capacitor.

 

[BennyF]

Hey Benny, is this you:

Thanks. Do you have a box I can put it into? My closet is organized, and I can't just stuff something in it unless it's in a box.

 

[phlogistician]

I don't need to prove anything to you, Phil.

Yes you do, you need to prove you graduated from that course like you claimed you did. So far you haven't shown us anything. Apart from ignorance.

 

[BennyF]

No, Benny, really, lightning wants to strike the Earth. Potential difference makes that happen. It doesn't want to get stuck in a box.

That makes twice you've been using unscientific terminology.

Tell me something, Phil. If lightning "wants" to strike the earth, like you claim, then why do 90% of all recorded lightning strikes hit another cloud?

 

[phlogistician]

Thanks. Do you have a box I can put it into? My closet is organized, and I can't just stuff something in it unless it's in a box.

Is that you, Benny?

 

[BennyF]

Yes you do, you need to prove you graduated from that course like you claimed you did. So far you haven't shown us anything. Apart from ignorance.

This isn't a job interview, it's a place to discuss science. Let us know when you've finished your story.