“Flyback trafocascade driven voltage multiplayer
The CockcroftWalton generator, or multiplier, is an electric circuit that generates a high DC voltage from a low-voltage AC or pulsing DC input.
Multipliers are typically used to develop higher voltages for relatively low-current applications such as laser systems, X-ray systems, air ionisers, cathode ray tubes etc…
We can divide the whole device into several parts:
- DC voltage source consisting of mains transformer and rectifier, in this case with output voltage of 15V and current of 5A.
- AC high voltage source, with an output value of 5 to 10 thousand volts. This assembly consists of a driver circuit and a flyback transformer from an old TV. In my case it is a “Plasma Speaker” device I have made before. Here you can create a simpler driver for example with 555 IC, for which is also given the link to the schematic below.
Let me emphasize here that it is necessary to use an output transformer that gives AC voltage, and not a transfocascade whose output we have DC voltage ,that is not suitable for this device.
- Lastly, this is the Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier which is made up of cascading high voltage diodes and capacitors. They are designed for voltages of 20 thousand volts or more.”