Van de Graaff generator

A Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to

accumulate very high electrostatically stable voltages on a hollow metal globe on the top of
the stand. Invented in 1929 by American physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff, the potential
differences achieved in modern Van de Graaff generators can reach 5 megavolts. The Van de
Graaff generator can be thought of as a constant-current source connected in parallel with a
capacitor and a very large electrical resistance.

Van de Graaff was invited to come to MIT as a research associate. In 1931 Van de Graaff
constructed his first large machine in an unused aircraft hangar at Round Hill, the estate of
Colonel E.H.R. Green, in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The machine used two polished
aluminum spheres, each 15 feet in diameter mounted on 25 foot high insulating columns,
which were 6 feet in diameter. The columns were mounted on railway trucks that boosted the
spheres to 43 feet above ground level. The machine had its debut on November 28, 1933 and
was able to produce 7,000,000 volts.

The Van de Graaff generator is an impressive electrostatic generator that is capable of

producing enormously large static electric potentials. In fact, giant Van de Graaff generators
can produce miliions of volts leading to awesome displays of corona and lightning. More
modest "class room" sized Van de Graaff generators typically produce 100,000 V to 500,000
V. Originally the generator was built using a pure silk ribbon driven by a small motor. The
charges on the ribbon were collected on a terminal that actually was a tin can. His early
devices were capable of developing 80,000 volts. Of course, this device was limited by the
edge effects of the tin can.
However, his theory lead to Van de Graaff generators that have produced upwards to 10
million volts. Interestingly, Van de Graaff may not have been the first to develop a belt driven
electrostatic generator. In 1893, Von Busch presented a device having two pulleys and a
horizontal belt with a charge collector comb and an insulated sphere. Even earlier than this,
Rouland invented an electrostatic generator in 1785 using a continuous silk ribbon running
between two horizontal pulleys with a collector tube at the center. Regardless of its "true"
inventor, Van de Graaff generators have been instrumental in a number of fields, including
particle acceleration, electrostatics, ESD, as well as providing an awesome display of the
power of electricity.

In Van de Graaff generators, electric charge is transported to the high-voltage terminal on a

rapidly moving belt of insulating material driven by a pulley mounted on the grounded end of
the structure; a second pulley is enclosed within the large, spherical high- voltage terminal, as
shown at left. The belt is charged by a comb of sharp needles with the points close to the belt
a short distance from the place at which it moves clear of the grounded pulley. The comb is
connected to a power supply that raises its potential to a few tens of kilovolts.

Simplified version of a Van de Graaff

high-voltage electrostatic generator

The gas near the needle points is ionized by the intense electric field, and in the resulting
corona discharge the ions are driven to the surface of the belt. The motion of the belt carries
the charge into the high-voltage terminal and transfers it to another comb of needles, from
which it passes to the outer surface of the terminal. A carefully designed Van de Graaff
generator insulated by pressurized gas can be charged to a potential of about 20 megavolts.
An ion source within the terminal then produces positive particles that are accelerated as they
move downward to ground potential through an evacuated tube.

Van de Graaff generator is constructed of two Textolite columns, six feet in diameter, each
with a 15 foot hollow aluminum sphere at the top. In its original state, rubber conveyer belts
ran through each column. Metal comb-like brushes sprayed electrical charge onto the belts
which carried the charge from the bottom of the machine to the top, where another set of
brushes distributed it on each of the spheres. A tube with a target in it ran between the
spheres. One sphere was charged positively, the other negatively, until a discharge between
the two occurred, hitting the target in the process. Laboratory equipment in each of the
spheres was used to examine and study what occurred as the particles were smashed. Each
sphere could be charged to approximately 2.5 million volts, resulting in a 5 million volt
discharge.

Later the two spheres were joined together (as they are today), to create one large terminal.
The right column contained the working belts, motors, and brushes. The left column (which is
now empty and serves as only a support for the sphere) contained equipment to generate high
energy x-rays. Today the machine discharges to grounded probes and props within the
Theater of Electricity.

A simple Van de Graaff generator consists of a belt of silk, or a similar flexible dielectric
material, running over two pulleys, one of which is surrounded by a hollow metal sphere.
Two electrodes, upper electrode and lower electrode (ground), in the form of comb-shaped
rows of sharp metal points, are positioned respectively near to the bottom of the pulley and
inside the sphere. upper electrode is connected to the sphere, and a high DC potential (with
respect to earth) is applied to lower electrode (ground); a positive potential in this example.

As the belt is pulled away from the upper roller, it pulls away some of the roller's electrons,
leaving the roller with a positive charge, and the belt with a negative charge. This then causes
electrons to concentrate at the tips of the lower brush lower electrode (ground), the longer the
belt is turning, the higher the concentration of the electrons is.

Fig:Van de Graaff generator

1) hollow metal sphere

2) upper electrode
3) upper roller (metal)
4) side of the belt with positive charges
5) opposite side of the belt with negative charges
6) lower roller (for example in acrylic glass)
7) lower electrode (ground)
8) spherical device with negative charges, used to discharge the main sphere
9) spark produced by the difference of potentials

In the end this will cause the air around lower electrode (ground) to ionize, the electrons will
then jump through the now conductive air towards the positively charged roller. But instead
of hitting the roller, they meet the belt and are carried up to upper electrode, the electrons are
then pushed away from the negatively charged belt towards upper electrode,

The other method for building Van de Graaff generators is to use the triboelectric effect. The
strong e-field from the rollers then induces a corona discharge at the tip of the pointed
electrodes. The electrodes then "spray" a charge onto the belt which is opposite in polarity to
the charge on the rollers. The remaining operation is otherwise the same as the voltageinjecting version above.
This type of generator is easier to build for science fair or homemade projects, since it doesn't
require a potentially dangerous high voltage source. The trade-off is that it cannot build up as
high a voltage as the other type, and operation may become difficult under humid conditions
(which can severely reduce triboelectric effects).
A Van de Graaff generator needs to be sphere shaped in order to work. The fact that
electrically charged spheres have no e-field inside makes it possible to keep adding charges
from a lower voltage source. Outside the sphere the e-field is very strong and applying
charges from the outside is hence impossible.
Since a Van de Graaff generator can supply the same small current at almost any level of
electrical potential, it is an example of a nearly ideal current source. The maximum
achievable potential is approximately equal to the sphere's radius multiplied by the e-field
where corona discharges begin to form within the surrounding gas. For example, a polished
spherical electrode 30 cm in diameter immersed in air at STP (which has a breakdown
voltage of about 30 kV/cm) could be expected to develop a maximum voltage of about 450
kV.