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Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
Original poster: "John Couture" <johncouture-at-bellsouth-dot-net>
Steven -
I assume you have read my post to Gerry which mentions peak powers, etc,
etc. You are the first to mention power factors. In Gerry's post I was
referring only to power as wattage at 100 percent power factor. When power
factor is brought into the picture things get even more complicated. If
power factor is involved things are a lot less complicated if energy is used
to rate Tesla coils.
Power is equal to Volts times Amps or VA. If the VA is in watts the power
factor is 100 percent. Normally when only VA is mentioned the power factor
is something less than 100 percent. Of course coilers don't always stick to
this convention which again confuses the TC power rating. Here again there
can be confusion when rating a TC in power. There is less confusion if the
TC rating is in energy as watt seconds or joules.
With Tesla coils the bottom line is
Power output can be greater than power input
Power is in watts, average watts, peak watts, volt amps, etc.
Energy output can not be greater than energy input
Energy is in watt seconds or joules
The power input can be in many forms as I mentioned in my post to Gerry.
The energy input can be in only one form and that is watt seconds (joules).
Power factor is involved with TC power ratings
Power factor is not involved with TC energy ratings. Why??
Power factor is due to reactive components in the TC. These components
produce reactive powers. Energy is not involved with reactive powers. Refer
to my post to Gerry where I show what happens when the wattmeter is used as
an energy meter.
I hope I haven't muddied the waters again.
John Couture
----------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2004 1:40 PM
Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
> Original poster: "Steven Ward" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>
>
> From what i understood, i thought John was referring to power factor
> issues and other things like "average power" where really all the energy
> may still be accounted for. But im still a bit unclear about what you
> meant John, maybe you could elaborate??
>
> IF it is just a question of peak powers, i recall my pspice simulations
> suggesting something of around 1.5 megawatts peak from the IGBTs.
>
> Steve
>
>
> >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> >To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> >Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
> >Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:42:16 -0600
> >
> >Original poster: "Gerry Reynolds" <gerryreynolds-at-earthlink-dot-net>
> >
> >
> >Hi John,
> >
> >What you say may be true, but it is misleading. You can NOT get more
> >average power out than what is coming in. If you could, you should get a
> >patent and become rich. Peak power yes. You store up energy over a
large
> >time and then discharge it in a small time and the peak power out will be
> >larger than the peak power in.
> >
> >Gerry R.
> >
> >
> > > Original poster: "John Couture" <johncouture-at-bellsouth-dot-net>
> > >
> > > Steve -
> > >
> > > Congratulations on your getting 10 foot output sparks from your SSTC
coil
> > > with 4800 watts input. Do you know that the power output of your Tesla
> >coil
> > > can be much greater than the power input? In other words the output
power
> >of
> > > your
> > > TC can be much greater than the input of 4800 watts. This means the
power
> > > efficiencies (power output/power input) of your TC can be well over
100
> > > percent. It is very difficult if not impossible to determine the true
> >power
> > > input or power output for a particular output spark. The ratio of
power
> > > output to power input is mostly an unknown for TC's. To my knowledge
no
> > > coiler has ever properly made these measurements.
> > >
> > > This is why it makes more engineering sense to use energy input and
> >energy
> > > output in rating TC's. The energy efficiency is then equal to energy
> > > output/energy input. This efficiency is always less than one or 100
> >percent
> > > and can be measured as I have shown in the past.
> > >
> > > As a final comment and to avoid muddying the waters I believe the
> >statement
> > > "4800 watts input for a 10 foot spark" is an acceptable wording for
rating
> > > TC's in a free speech country. The pictures of those sparks show that
no
> > > matter what you call them they represent a great achievement in Tesla
coil
> > > progress for SSTC's.
> > >
> > > John Couture
> > > ---------------------------------------
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > > Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 1:52 PM
> > > Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
> > >
> > >
> > > > Original poster: "Steven Ward" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>
> > > >
> > > > Oops, forgot to mention the power consumption is less than 4800W...
not
> > > > exactly sure because i dont have a watt meter that big but i have
it
> >both
> > > > fused and breakered to 20A and even after quite long runs it has
never
> > > > popped the fuses or breakers. My guess is around 4kw to make 10
foot
> > > > sparks. Solid State is the only way i would ever have a coil this
> >large
> > > at
> > > > my house... i cant really feed a pig on my 20A line.
> > > >
> > > > Anyway, i ran the coil again last night for a pretty long time. We
had
> >a
> > > > "cage of death" set up so i limited my output to 7 feet (though it
hit
> >the
> > > > ground at 9 feet several times as well). At this distance there
arent
> > > > streamers... just power arcs to the cage the whole time. The
friends
> >all
> > > > loved it and we had a fun safe night that went without problems ;)
> > > >
> > > > Steve Ward
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > > > >To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> > > > >Subject: Re: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
> > > > >Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 18:54:02 -0600
> > > > >
> > > > >Original poster: "Brian" <ka1bbg-at-webryders-dot-net>
> > > > >
> > > > >Hi, NICE! do you have any idea what the power input is? you are
"HOT"
> >on
> > > > >these ss coils! cul brian f.
> > > > >----- Original Message -----
> > > > >From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > > > >To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > > > >Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 10:46 AM
> > > > >Subject: SSTC does 10 foot sparks
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > > Original poster: "Steven Ward" <srward16-at-hotmail-dot-com>
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Coilers,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Recently there has been a lot of advancements in the SSTC area
of
> > > coiling.
> > > > > > Im proud to be the first (or at least i *think* im the first)
to
> > > achieve
> > > > >10
> > > > > > foot (or better) sparks from a solid state tesla coil! The
design
> >is
> > > > > > similar to that of my first ISSTC but using more robust gate
> >drivers
> > > and
> > > > > > switching devices, and of course MUCH larger coils.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I will eventually get the details up on my site, but for now
here
> >are
> > > some
> > > > > > pictures:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > http://www.hot-streamer-dot-com/srward16/ISSTCII/ISSTCII_goodpics/
> > > > > >
> > > > > > In some of the pics you will see it arcing to a green chair in
the
> > > > > > forground, this is 115"... a few times it struck out beyond
that at
> >(i
> > > > > > approximate) 125". And i havent even put the max voltage on
it!
> >Im
> > > > > > limited by the ground being so close ;) The coil stands 5"
taller
> > > than
> > > > > > myself at 6'11". The output is fierce and constantly power
arcs to
> > > > >objects
> > > > > > in the 9 foot range with some scattered action at 10+'... im
sure
> >if i
> > > set
> > > > > > it up just right i can get about 12 feet from this monster and
that
> >is
> > > my
> > > > > > goal (it was 9 feet but that was effortlessly achieved).
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Enjoy!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > All comments welcome.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Steve Ward
> > > > > >
> > > > > > _
>
>
>