Misplaced Pages

#88911

36-592: [REDACTED] Look up frantic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Frantic may refer to: Film [ edit ] Frantic (film) , a 1988 film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Harrison Ford Frantic Films , a Canadian film production company Music [ edit ] Frantic (album) , a 2002 album by Bryan Ferry "Frantic" (Metallica song) , 2003 Frantic (Jamie O'Neal song) , 2002 Video games [ edit ] Frantic (video game) ,

72-400: A Penning mixture can also be used. A krytron has four electrodes . Two are a conventional anode and cathode . One is a keep-alive electrode, placed near the cathode. The keep-alive has a low positive voltage applied, which causes a small area of gas to ionize near the cathode. High voltage is applied to the anode, but primary conduction does not occur until a positive pulse is applied to

108-516: A 1982 video game published by Imagine Software Frantic Factory, the third level in Donkey Kong 64 Other uses [ edit ] Frantic Magazine , a comic book series published by Marvel UK from 1979 to 1980 Operation Frantic , World War II shuttle bombing missions See also [ edit ] Frenzy (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

144-643: A delay between the application of the trigger pulse and switching as low as about 30 nanoseconds. The achievable jitter may be below 5 nanoseconds. The required trigger pulse voltage is about 200–2000 volts; higher voltages decrease the switching delay to some degree. Commutation time can be somewhat shortened by increasing the trigger pulse rise time. A given krytron tube will give very consistent performance to identical trigger pulses (low jitter). The keep-alive current ranges from tens to hundreds of microamperes. The pulse repetition rate can range from one per minute to tens of thousands per minute. Switching performance

180-414: A krytron with a trigger transformer are available. A sprytron , also known as vacuum krytron or triggered vacuum switch ( TVS ), is a vacuum, rather than a gas-filled, version. It is designed for use in environments with high levels of ionizing radiation , which might trigger a gas-filled krytron spuriously. It is also more immune to electromagnetic interference than gas-filled tubes. Sprytrons lack

216-660: A replacement in some applications. Krytrons and their variations are manufactured by Perkin-Elmer Components and used in a variety of industrial and military devices. They are best known for their use in igniting exploding-bridgewire and slapper detonators in nuclear weapons , their original application, either directly (sprytrons are usually used for this) or by triggering higher-power spark gap switches. They are also used to trigger thyratrons , large flashlamps in photocopiers , lasers and scientific apparatus, and for firing ignitors for industrial explosives . Because of their potential for use as triggers of nuclear weapons,

252-449: A thick (25 micrometers or more) layer of soft gold . The same metallization is used for other switch tubes as well. Sprytrons are often designed similar to trigatrons , with the trigger electrode coaxial to the cathode. In one design the trigger electrode is formed as metallization on the inner surface of an alumina tube. The trigger pulse causes surface flashover , which liberates electrons and vaporized surface discharge material into

288-506: A very high-speed switch , somewhat similar to the thyratron . It consists of a sealed glass tube with four electrodes . A small triggering pulse on the grid electrode switches the tube on, allowing a large current to flow between the cathode and anode electrodes. The vacuum version is called a vacuum krytron , or sprytron . The krytron was one of the earliest developments of the EG&;G Corporation . Unlike most other gas switching tubes,

324-410: Is a surgeon visiting Paris with his wife Sondra for a medical conference. At their hotel, she is unable to unlock her suitcase, and Walker determines that she picked up the wrong one at the airport. While Walker is taking a shower, Sondra receives a phone call that Walker can't hear and she mysteriously disappears from their hotel room. Still jet-lagged , Walker searches for his wife in the hotel with

360-521: Is largely independent of the environment (temperature, acceleration, vibration, etc.). However, the formation of the keep-alive glow discharge is more sensitive, which necessitates the use of a radioactive source to aid its ignition. Krytrons have a limited lifetime, ranging, according to type, typically from tens of thousands to tens of millions of switching operations, and sometimes only a few hundreds. Sprytrons have somewhat faster switching times than krytrons. Hydrogen-filled thyratrons may be used as

396-684: The 9th arrondissement . The hotel's lobby also appeared in the film. Filming also took place at the Île aux Cygnes island in the Seine for the Lady Liberty scenes. Frantic was released in the UK on 16 February 1988, with a release of 26 February in the US and a 30 March release in France. The film was a disappointment at the box-office with a domestic gross of $ 17,637,950, failing to recoup its production budget. However,

SECTION 10

#1732884300089

432-806: The Arab agents who were to get the precious device, and the Israeli Mossad secret agents who traced them to get hold of it. The Arabs are killed in the crossfire but Michelle is hit too, dying soon after having slipped the krytron into Walker's pocket, with Sondra at their side. Furious, Walker shows the krytron device to the Israeli agents before he throws it into the Seine. He carries Michelle's body away, ready to leave Paris with his wife. Filming took place on location in Paris with exteriors filmed outside Le Grand Hotel in rue Scribe in

468-542: The early 1980s. 469 of these were returned to the United States, with Israel claiming the remaining 341 were "destroyed in testing". Krytrons and sprytrons handling voltages of 2,500 V and above, currents of 100 A and above, and switching delays of under 10 microseconds are typically suitable for nuclear weapon triggers. A krytron was the " MacGuffin " in Roman Polanski's 1988 film Frantic . The device in

504-471: The electric current, and a vacuum arc must form between the cathode and anode. An arc first forms between the cathode and the grid, then a breakdown occurs between the cathode–grid conductive region and the anode. Sprytrons are evacuated to hard vacuum , typically 0.001 Pa . As kovar and other metals are somewhat permeable to hydrogen, especially during the 600 °C bake-out before evacuation and sealing, all external metal surfaces must be plated with

540-433: The export of krytrons is tightly regulated in the United States. A number of cases involving the smuggling or attempted smuggling of krytrons have been reported, as countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons have attempted to procure supplies of krytrons for igniting their weapons. One prominent case was that of Richard Kelly Smyth , who allegedly helped Arnon Milchan smuggle 15 orders of 810 krytrons total to Israel in

576-574: The film was actually a Krytron-Pac, which consisted of a Krytron tube along with a trigger transformer encased in black epoxy. The krytron, incorrectly called a "kryton", also appeared in the Tom Clancy nuclear terrorism novel The Sum of All Fears . The plot of Larry Collins ' book The Road to Armageddon revolved heavily around American-made krytrons that Iranian mullahs wanted for three Russian nuclear artillery shells they had hoped to upgrade to full nuclear weapons. The term "krytron" appeared in

612-403: The film was more successful in other countries such as France where it received 1,293,721 admissions. Although a commercial failure in the US, Frantic was a critical success. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 77% of critics gave positive reviews based on a sample of 43 reviews with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's consensus simply calls it "A tense, on-point thriller in

648-452: The help of a polite but mostly indifferent staff and then wanders outside to look for her himself. A wino overhears him in a café and says he saw Sondra being forced into a car in a nearby alley. Walker is skeptical, until he finds his wife's ID bracelet on the cobblestones. He contacts the Paris police and the U.S. Embassy , but their responses are bureaucratic , and there is little hope anyone will bother looking for her. As Walker carries on

684-433: The inter-electrode gap, which facilitates formation of a vacuum arc , closing the switch. The short switching time suggests electrons from the trigger discharge and the corresponding secondary electrons knocked from the anode as the initiation of the switching operation; the vaporized material travels too slowly through the gap to play significant role. The repeatability of the triggering can be improved by special coating of

720-406: The keep alive electrode and the preionization radioactive source. The trigger pulse must be stronger than for a krytron. Sprytrons are able to handle higher currents. Krytrons tend to be used for triggering a secondary switch, e.g., a triggered spark gap , while sprytrons are usually connected directly to the load. The trigger pulse has to be much more intense, as there is no preionized gas path for

756-447: The krytron conducts by means of an arc discharge , to handle very high voltages and currents (reaching several kilovolts and several kiloamperes), rather than the low-current glow discharge used in other thyratrons . The krytron is a development of the triggered spark gaps and thyratrons originally developed for radar transmitters during World War II . The gas used in krytrons is hydrogen ; noble gases (usually krypton ), or

SECTION 20

#1732884300089

792-509: The late 1940s, is still capable of pulse-power performance that even the most advanced semiconductors (even IGBTs ) cannot match easily. Krytrons and sprytrons are capable of handling high-current high-voltage pulses, with very fast switching times, and constant, low jitter time delay between application of the trigger pulse and switching on. Krytrons can switch currents of up to about 3000 amperes and voltages up to about 5000 volts. Commutation time of less than 1 nanosecond can be achieved, with

828-538: The medium during formation of the arc path. The electric arc is self-sustaining. Once the tube is triggered, it conducts until the arc is interrupted by the current falling too low for too long (under 10 milliamperes for more than 100 microseconds for the KN22 krytrons). Krytrons and sprytrons are triggered by a high voltage from a capacitor discharge via a trigger transformer , in a similar way flashtubes for e.g. photoflash applications are triggered. Devices integrating

864-471: The movie three out five, calling it Polanski's most satisfying film since Chinatown , and one of the best traditional thrillers to come down the pike in quite some time. It was released on DVD on June 1, 2004, in Region 1. The film title, along with Ford; are mentioned in the 1998 Barenaked Ladies ' song, " One Week ". Krytron The krytron is a cold-cathode gas-filled tube intended for use as

900-478: The opening sequences of Frantic is to be reminded of Polanski's talent. Here is one of the few modern masters of the thriller and the film noir. Frantic is a reminder of how absorbing a good thriller can be." Pat Collins of WWOR-TV called it "Polanski's best film ever". Desson Howe , of The Washington Post , called the movie "vintage Polanski", with its relentless paranoia, irony, diffident strangers and nutty cameos. British film magazine Empire rated

936-473: The precious device, and they have no problem letting Sondra die for it. In order to save his wife, Walker joins forces with Michelle, who is only interested in getting her paycheck. The film finishes with a confrontation on the Île aux Cygnes , in the middle of the Seine , next to the Paris Statue of Liberty replica, where Sondra is to be released in exchange for the krytron. However, a gunfight ensues between

972-400: The pressure inside rises to 1 Pa. Accelerated testing of storage life can be done by storing in increased ambient pressure, optionally with added helium for leak testing, and increased temperature storage (150 °C) for outgassing testing. Sprytrons can be made miniaturized and rugged. Sprytrons can be also triggered by a laser pulse. In 1999 the laser pulse energy needed to trigger a sprytron

1008-431: The reliability of ignition and formation of the keep-alive electrode discharge. The gas filling provides ions for neutralizing the space charge and allowing high currents at lower voltage. The keep-alive discharge populates the gas with ions, forming a preionized plasma. This can shorten the arc formation time by 3–4 orders of magnitude in comparison with non-preionized tubes, as time does not have to be spent on ionizing

1044-493: The return of his kidnapped wife. Following their visit to Michelle's apartment, Walker's hotel room and shabby cabarets, it turns out that the smuggled contents are not drugs, but a krytron , an electronic switch used as a detonator for nuclear weapons, stolen and smuggled inside a souvenir replica of the Statue of Liberty , on orders of some Arab country's agents. The American embassy, working with Israeli agents, wants to get hold of

1080-411: The search himself he stumbles onto a murder site where he encounters the streetwise young Michelle, who mistook Sondra's suitcase for her own at the airport. He realises that Michelle is a career drug smuggler, but does not care or know for which shady dealers she is hired. Michelle reluctantly helps Walker in his attempt to learn what was packed in her switched suitcase, and how to trade the contents for

1116-464: The season 3, episode 14 (Provenance) of the television drama Person of Interest . In Season 3 of NCIS episode "Kill Ari, Part 2", it was revealed that Ari Haswari, a rogue Mossad operative, had been tasked with acquiring a krytron trigger. Along with stolen plutonium from Dimona, these were key components for an Israeli sting operation. The krytron was also incorrectly called a "kryton". Optically triggered solid-state switches based on diamond are

Frantic - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-464: The surface between the trigger electrode and the cathode, and the jitter can be improved by doping the trigger substrate and modifying the trigger probe structures. Sprytrons can degrade in storage, by outgassing from their components, diffusion of gases (especially hydrogen) through the metal components, and gas leaks through the hermetic seals . An example tube manufactured with internal pressure of 0.001 Pa will exhibit spontaneous gap breakdowns when

1188-466: The title Frantic . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frantic&oldid=1228141289 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Frantic (film) Dr. Richard Walker

1224-530: The trigger electrode ("Grid" in the image above). Once started, arc conduction carries a considerable current. The fourth is a control grid, usually wrapped around the anode, except for a small opening on its top. In place of or in addition to the keep-alive electrode some krytrons may contain a tiny amount of radioactive material (usually less than 5 microcuries (180  kBq ) of nickel-63 ), which emits beta particles (high-speed electrons ) to make ionization easier. The radiation source serves to increase

1260-493: The vein of Polanski's earlier work". Metacritic calculated an average score of 66 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. The film received " two thumbs up " from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert on their At the Movies . Roger Ebert, in his review, gave the film three out of four stars, saying: "to watch

1296-527: Was reduced to 10 microjoules. Sprytrons are usually manufactured as rugged metal/ ceramic parts. They typically have low inductance (10 nano henries ) and low electrical resistance when switched on (10–30 milli ohms ). After triggering, just before the sprytron switches fully on in avalanche mode, it briefly becomes slightly conductive (carrying 100–200 amperes); high-power MOSFET transistors operating in avalanche mode show similar behavior. SPICE models for sprytrons are available. This design, dating from

#88911