Re: Directions for tesla coil research

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 5/5/02 6:24:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:

Malcolm, Paul, all,

An interesting test would be to increase the topload C, but
keep the ROC the same, or even reduce it, and see what
happens.  In all the tests I did, I increased the ROC along with
the increased topload C.  In these tests, I found a range of
toroid sizes which gave the same spark length.  At the low
side of the range, the sparks were thin and active.  At the
high edge of the C and ROC range, the sparks were thicker,
but seemed somehow "sluggish".

Cheers,
John



>
> > Jim's comments cut to the heart of the matter:  The question is,
> > what is the relative significance of topload voltage and topload
> > charge in determining streamer performance?
>
> Absolutely agree. It's been a hobby horse of mine for quite a while 
> now. For one of my coils, increasing Ctop by an effective 100% (Ctot 
> increased from about 26pF to 33pF or so) resulted in a 25% increase 
> in reach with the same primary energy and breakrate. However, 
> unloaded primary Q was also increased by 50% as a result of retuning 
> so the Ctop factor did not sit alone. Given half a chance (like a 
> suitable test room), I'd like to boost Ctop further and check for 
> further improvement. Maybe in the semester break in June.
>
> Regards,
> malcolm
> <snip - points noted>
>
>