RE: srsg idea to prevent losses

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>

Hi All,

On 21 Mar 2002, at 16:38, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>
> 
> That quenching is unimportant is certainly news!  Perhaps the need for
> airflow over gaps, commonly (blindly) attributed to improving quench, has
> more to do with maintaining the static breakdown voltage of the gap,
> preventing it from being reduced due to the presence of ionized air?
> 
> Gary Lau
> MA, USA
> 
> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
> 
> Hi Gary,
> 
> Both of my coils have just about zero quenching :-))  They conduct until
> the current is just gone...  The big coil does loose a little due to
> primary to secondary "sloshing" but the small coil is designed to expend
> all of it's power to the streamer during the first notch.  There is nothing
> left to slosh back to the primary.  It has lower Q and all to do that,but
> it seems to work very well.  Solid state spark gaps can provide "perfect"
> switching too like the proposed contact gap.  Of course,they can also open
> back up to microsecond accuracy...
> 
> The idea of submersing a contact type gap in oil is intriguing.  Maybe
> putting it all in on heck of a vacuum too...  But the heat dissipation in
> the gap and motor would be about zero in a vacuum...
> 
> Much to ponder...

I think the number one reason for airflow through the gaps is simply 
to remove ions and hot air. With some systems, power arcing in the 
gap will certainly occur without it. One of my coils changed its 
characteristics radically when it received 50% extra primary 
inductance and a bigger top hat to match: it went from a well behaved 
system needing no airflow at all to an ill-behaved tricky-to-adjust 
monster. I got an extra 1'+ of sparklength for my trouble. I reasoned 
at the time that the higher primary Q probably had something to do 
with it. But it is near impossible to quench a gap at first notch 
without incurring considerable losses in my experience.

Regards,
malcolm