Good Morning Makers,
There’s a super-talented, young maker here who’s confident he can make a sputtering deposition chamber with existing supplies here at DMS, but he needs someone to provide and hook up a ~200kV ~100mA DC power supply. I’d really, really love to have one here for custom semiconductor, solar cell, touch display, super capacitor, etc. fabrication methods. Any help greatly appreciated!
Best,
Eric
Chris was given a sputtering power supply from Fred’s warehouse. It is currently sitting on the floor in Electronics taking up space. It has hefty power requirements, and needs liquid cooling, but it is an industrial designed sputtering power supply.
Creating a DIY 20KW power supply (200kV at 100mA) is not a simple, easy, or very practical project. If needed, getting the existing commercial supply up and running would be your best option.
Wow, even at 90% efficiency, it would need to dissipate 2kW! That’s a pretty tall order (and I’m sure the reason for liquid cooling)
Most people do not realize how much power that is at those voltages and current. Besides being instantly deadly.
Getting the power supplies we have up and running will be enough of a challenge. Good thing we have 2 of them.
Self correcting problem! 
I think it is one supply in two boxes…
That would make total sense giving the power needs. I remember when argon laser PSUs were essentially a whole rack of gear.
I would be very happy to move these pwr splys to Science. Weight is ~120 lbs ea. Someone needs to put them to use or they may end up ebay/craigslist for local pickup.
Yup, this is not something to fool around with if you don’t know how to handle high voltages. Just like any electrical worker, you should be familiar with Minimum Approach Distance:
The voltage you specify (200kV) is transmission-line category, and the current is high enough (>6ma) to cause death. All wires with this voltage on them should be surrounded by earthed metallic shields to prevent flash-over to someone’s fingers poking at things.
Also who is going to verify the power is off at 200kv DC (I believe we were talking DC), a hot dog on a hot stick with a ground? I deal with medium voltage (up to 13,800 AC)at work but when it comes to DC the non contact voltage meters won’t work. I’m sure there are ways but I’ve never done it. Always learning for sure.
A device called an electroscope can detect if the device is charged without contact.
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/images/static_detection_simple_electroscope.gif
You’ll know if it’s still charged or not when it arcs 15 feet across the workshop.
Watch the YouTube videos of electrical flashover … the training films I had to watch at UTC Power were pretty gruesome - we were only working with 1200VDC although at 100kW. Also showed why to wear only cotton and not synthetics.
Science would be more than happy to accept working/functioning power supplies 
At least one of our members retrieved a whole rack (or two) of HV power supply from Fred’s warehouse of wonder!
In all likelihood the supply is working (should be tested); however, it requires installation. Much like a fume hood. This is a major piece of equipment you asked for in the OP. It would require a dedicated power line, and cooling equipment. But so would any 20KW sputtering supply.
Ok, this is well outside my knowledge and I’ll gladly yield to the wisdom of my betters if y’all insist this is beyond DMS’s Electronics Committee’s capabilities (and obviously as stated above, only people such as the Electronics Committee should be attempting this project) but Science Committee (hope I’m not overstepping, Science peeps) is likely happy to foot most of the bill depending on cost estimates. If y’all would like to meet to discuss logistics further I’d be happy to buy pizza and drink for all… you know… I mean… only if this within Electronics Committee’s capabilities…
DC or RF? 首页 | Advanced Energy
Let’s see…20 Kw. Efficiency <50% - 40+Kw…240v 3 phase w/ big breakers - think explosive if something bad goes wrong. Self correcting problem w/ high collateral damage.
Suggest making a list of materials/techniques you want to play with and buy a used working unit on ebay. Probably $$$$, but you will be miles ahead and much safer than trying to design/build/debug from scratch.
I really don’t agree with this. If you can’t safely build it, you probably don’t have the skills to safely use it either. Yes, building takes additional skills/knowledge, but the basic safety procedures and techniques apply whether your building such a beast or just operating one.
Here’s relevant to semi-relevant info I found:
Multi-Range DC sputtering Power Supply
Model number: VPW2870A1
Model number: VPW2870B1
http://www.cpii.com/docs/datasheets/193/VPW2870A4B5.pdf
http://www.cpii.com/docs/datasheets/193/VPW2870A3B4.pdf
