The Bonetti machine is an influence type electrostatic generator, similar to the Wimshurst machine, but without the metallic sectors arranged around the spinning discs.


I made this one with a bit of an unusual arrangement; more like a windmill design using an old DC motor instead of a hand crank. Rather than using the traditional Leyden jars, it uses a more conventional (by today's standards) flat capacitor made of a big sheet of ABS plastic, and some aluminium foil.


To get the required counterrotation of the two plastic (acrylic) discs, I made a belt plus gear drive using some old printer parts, but made the actual gears (14 tooth cycloidal profile) using a CNC mill. Since the motor shaft wasn't very long, this was the most compact design that was reasonable to make.


Machine is still under development. There's quite a bit of corona leakage that limits the voltage build-up. Currently it maxes out at 120kV based on jumping a 120mm air gap.

свернуть