It’s hard to believe that these used to be used to power the trains on the New Haven Railroad. (They has to support HV AC from overhead catenary in addition to 3rd-rail DC.)
I’ve seen some of these disused MVR at Cockatoo Island, Sydney in the old power generation/pump station. I can’t believe after 70yrs this tech is still in use but you mentioned It’s in NZ and Whanganui of all places so it’s totally feasible.
My grandpa worked on electric railways when they were replacing these with silicon diodes. From what he told me, they were able to replace a room full of these with a large-ish cabinet of silicon diode rectifiers.
First time I saw one of these was at the Science Museum in Birmingham, UK. It seemed sinister and terrifying to a 6 year old! They don’t seem much less so now. A sweating, steamy spark tank that looks like it communicates with the dark dimension or summink.
Gigantic versions of these used to convert 3-phase AC from utility-scale generators to DC for transmission over long distances (when power lines are several hundred miles long, AC signals reflect a bit off the far end, sending (lost) energy back toward the source). The power lines running parallel to Interstate 5 in California, for example, are DC. I think they are all solid-state, now.
At the receiving end, they were converted back to AC with a device that looked a lot the same as the one in the clip. Now they’ve been replaced by huge banks of thyristors (solid state devices).
Cool
I’d love to see this with the overhead lights off
what does this do?
It’s hard to believe that these used to be used to power the trains on the New Haven Railroad. (They has to support HV AC from overhead catenary in addition to 3rd-rail DC.)
While that looks stupidly cool, I also feel like it’s probably something that emits some unsafe levels of UV or IR.
Can someone explain this? Whats the big ball in the middle? How does this work?
The sound is a little disappointing, looks like it should be making sci-fi noises.
How old is that technology?
Could this type of device be constructed of gallium instead of mercury?
Beautiful sparkle! Much UV! Such high voltage! Wow!
I’ve seen some of these disused MVR at Cockatoo Island, Sydney in the old power generation/pump station. I can’t believe after 70yrs this tech is still in use but you mentioned It’s in NZ and Whanganui of all places so it’s totally feasible.
What’s the benefits of this over something like a silicon diode based rectifier
I’m going to need to ponder this one for a while.
My grandpa worked on electric railways when they were replacing these with silicon diodes. From what he told me, they were able to replace a room full of these with a large-ish cabinet of silicon diode rectifiers.
First time I saw one of these was at the Science Museum in Birmingham, UK. It seemed sinister and terrifying to a 6 year old! They don’t seem much less so now. A sweating, steamy spark tank that looks like it communicates with the dark dimension or summink.
Current capacity?
/r/VXJunkies type machine
Nice!!!
21 gigawatts?
/u/savevideo
How does it work?
Arse rectum frier?
Holy shit, that’s ancient.
It looks so eerily awesome.
Here’s another good one of some thyratrons firing in an amplifier:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7qMVYf85sM
Looks like you could go sterile just standing next to that thing.
Electromagic
Gigantic versions of these used to convert 3-phase AC from utility-scale generators to DC for transmission over long distances (when power lines are several hundred miles long, AC signals reflect a bit off the far end, sending (lost) energy back toward the source). The power lines running parallel to Interstate 5 in California, for example, are DC. I think they are all solid-state, now.
At the receiving end, they were converted back to AC with a device that looked a lot the same as the one in the clip. Now they’ve been replaced by huge banks of thyristors (solid state devices).