Electrical engineering student Simon Liu has made it possible for anyone to harness the power of plasma in the comfort of their own home or office. His open-source project, a tokamak generator, uses an 80mm glass ball filled with xenon gas and some affordable electronics.
The device is designed to create a beautiful purple plasma toroid, safely contained within the glass globe. To achieve this, Liu has developed a clever PCB top-plate that provides a bracket for a four-turn copper coil. The control board features a high-power MOSFET, which is cooled by a fan and heatsink.
When activated with a piezoelectric igniter, the device produces an eerie floating plasma ring. However, users are advised to exercise caution when using the circuit, as it can get hot and potentially cause burns. It’s also recommended not to run the circuit for extended periods of time.
A full build guide is available on Instructables, while the PCB manufacturing files can be found on GitHub under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. With this project, anyone can create their own plasma toroid generator and experience the fascinating world of plasma physics.
Source: https://www.hackster.io/news/simon-liu-wants-to-put-a-tokomak-on-every-desk-with-this-open-source-plasma-toroid-generator-02ea5e0b87fa