Large Electronics

There is a Russian High-Voltage testing facility at Novosibirsk, Siberia. It is called the Siberian Power Research Institute and is referred to as SIBNIIE. I blogged about it here earlier and was under the impression that it was an abandoned facility but it turns out that although there are disused bits scattered around, it is still very much active and in use. A reader from a High-Voltage email list recently had the pleasure of visiting it and was allowed to take photographs. Here are a few:
This is a disused Insulator -- the point of interest is
the beautiful Lichtenberg figures in the glass.


One of the many big transformers
that support research at the facility.


Their main research tool -- still very much in use.
This is a Marx Generator and is capable
of generating sparks in the
tens of millions of volt range.
It duplicates lightning.
Other machines mimic it in a smaller form,
this puppy has the voltage and current
to duplicate it.


Here is the inside of the tower -- the rounded things are the spark gaps,
about the size of a watermelon. Tiny indeed... WOW! They were not able to see it in operation but it is in frequent use and is used to test power distribution equipment, test for EMP resistance and to test aircraft. The USA has a few facilities like this but nothing that does this level of raw unleashed power. Jen and I are planning a Cider trip to England next spring but I mentioned to her that a trip to Novosibirsk might be called for in 2007.