Mark Took the 4th State of Matter into His Own Hands

Rather than throw his old TV set away, Mark turned it (along with a few other parts) into a power supply for a plasma globe. Basic construction of the device is a flyback transformer with primary, feedback, and secondary coils. Acting like an inductor, the flyback is wired so that the feedback winding fires the gate of a transistor, which turns the primary winding off and induces current in the secondary winding. The secondary winding and plasma globe form an LC circuit that operates at its resonant frequency (20 to 30 kHz).

Plasma globe power supply parts list
Amt	Part Description	Allied Part #
1	Transformer 115/60/1	836-6190
1	Diode #1N4001	568-0141
1	Capacitor 47000 µ 25V dc	857-0125
1	Push Button Switch	814-0001
1	Resistor 560 ohm 2W	296-0848
1	Resistor 27 ohm 1W	296-0828
1	Transistor NPN 2N3055	568-7389
1	Kapton Insulator for TO-3	619-1005
1	Thermal compound	796-2470
1	AWG enameled magnet wire	214-3598
Other supplies: 0.5-mA fuse, 4-A fuse, heat sink, nylon machine screw, decorator light bulb, epoxy, brown paper bag, old TV set (for complete parts list and description, go to http://www.designnews.com/contents/pdf/FlybackPowerGadget6704.pdf.