Physics New Capacitor Bank Projects

Large Capacitor Bank Project

Max Bigelmayr, Dez. 2025 (V01)

Introduction

Since I have been deeply involved with capacitor pulse discharges during my school years (e.g., Jugend forscht 2006), I later focused on electromagnetic field theory during my studies at LMU Munich. In particular, I was fascinated by the historical works of James Clerk Maxwell and Faraday, which continually motivated me to delve deeper into field theory. During my studies, I increasingly worked on the analytical derivation of systems of differential equations. Notable among these are the works Simulation of the Thomson Ring Experiment and Studies on Pulsed Wire Discharges, in which I numerically solved the derived systems of differential equations.

Through an internship at the Max Born Institute for Laser Ultrafast Spectroscopy in Berlin 2009, I had the opportunity to purchase a large number of old Russian impulse capacitors, which originated from an old GDR project and were decommissioned for disposal. This led to the planning of a large joint capacitor bank project in collaboration with my friends Daniel B. and Stefan K.
During my Master's studies in Computational Engineering/Electrical Power Engineering at the University of Rostock, I pre-designed all components and assemblies of the project in CAD and optimized the current distributions via FEM simulations so that all capacitors discharge symmetrically concerning their geometric arrangement of the busbars. The goal is to gradually build the system over the next few years in order to experimentally validate the theoretically developed concepts of the "Thomson ring experiment" and the "Software solution for Pulsed Wire Discharges".
Additionally, some exciting underwater plasma experiments are planned, for which some sophisticated measuring techniques still need to be developed...