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Re: [TCML] "Lifter" power supply questions



I appreciate all the advice offered. I'm not a believer in antigravity. I just wanted to build and fly a lifter. I understand DC is best (or even the only thing to use), but when other people say I can use ignition coils or NSTs, I am curious to find out how. The Hamilton Drills induction coil does not do anything for the lifter but cause it to arc furiously, even using the HV diodes peddled by the maker.

So far only the flyback in the CRT has done anything for the lifters. I have built two of the triangular foil-and-wire type, powered by a CRT monitor. They lift, though not as well as I would like. The device seems very sensitive to the gauge and length of wire used to connect it to the power source. If anyone has optimal suggestions on that score I'd like to hear them.

My ultimate aim is to build a "thruster" on a spindle to demonstrate the concept to others. I guess I should build a flyback power source (there are lots of plans for them around), but I was hoping to use one of the devices I had on hand.

PBT


----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Terren" <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 8:57 PM
Subject: Re: [TCML] "Lifter" power supply questions


As I have asserted early in this thread, I believe the best performance is with smoothed DC to give large amounts of stable corona short of sparking. An ignition coil as per the original enquiry is composed of short pulses of low duty cycle. Power is only available while the voltage is applied so a 10% duty cycle means 10% power for that peak voltage.
I know of no-one who has constructed a successful lifter with these.
I have made one that can carry its own weight in payload (3g) using 80kV smoothed DC from a CW multiplier derived from a Royer driven flyback.
http://tesladownunder.com/Lifters.htm#Lifters-80kV
I agree with Antonio's comments. Sadly lifter enthusiasts are almost as prone to pseudoscience as Tesla enthusiasts are and the whole field is muddied by antigravity and asymmetrical capacitor nonsense. Unfortunately it is real "rocket science" as ion drives are used in a thrusters in various spacecraft. Real scientists understand it perfectly well and they don't use Naudin's site for reference, I'm sure. Amateur experimentation will be plagued by the difficulties of measurement. Even simple voltage measurement at the lifter itself is difficult and the loading effect of even changing polarity giving different corona levels will be significant. Similarly any force measurements will be disturbed by electrostatic attraction to adjacent structures. To keep some association with Tesla coils I have observed that, while small coils drive ionic spinners quite well (where corona thrust is also used), a large(ish) Tesla coil has almost no effect.
http://tesladownunder.com/Lifters.htm#IonicSpinners

Cheers
Peter

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