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RE: CAP IDEA

 * Originally By: Richard Quick
 * Originally To: Lisanap-at-cats.ucsc.edu
 * Originally Re: RE: CAP IDEA
 * Original Area: UUCPE-Mail
 * Forwarded by : Blue Wave v2.12

 * Carbons Sent to: mmccarty-at-dnaco-dot-net
                    tesla-at-grendel.objinc-dot-com

Quoting Mark Napier:

 MN> Yeah, I am sort of getting the feel of it.  

That's what it sounded like.

 MN> Last night I was playing around with the gaps. I took them   
 MN> down to .022".  That was worse.  Not able to quench as they  
 MN> get closer?  Then I set them at .024", and things seem       
 MN> pretty good. A nice thicker single arc.  

OK, the gap setting determines the voltage of the tank circuit
operation. The closer the gap is set, the lower then breakdown
voltage; the greater the gap setting, the greater the breakdown
voltage. The gaps do have problems quenching at a very close
setting, but the energy of the pulse is usually less as well,
offering some compensation. The best gap setting is determined by
simply looking for the best spark. Generally I like about .028 -
.030 inches per gap in a series of about six or seven gaps.

Talking about the discharge length, performance:

 MN> The one measurement I took was 22" to a fluorecent tube.  
 MN> I have run it all the way up to 12KV a few times for brief   
 MN> periods.  I couldn't resist, of course.  I have not run it   
 MN> for more than a couple of minutes at any one time.  I have   
 MN> set the safety gap down to where it fires at 5-10 second     
 MN> intervals.  

Sounds pretty smooth. You are wise to operate in this fashion
until the caps are broken in.

 MN> If I increase the toriod size I will get stronger dis-       
 MN> charges, right?  

Yes.
 
 MN> But only up to a point where it will not break out at all    
 MN> without more power?  

Correct.

 MN> The larger the toriod the lower the freq. (of the secondary  
 MN> coil) and more primary turns (are needed) to match that      
 MN> freq..

That too is correct.

 MN> One relationship I am not clear on is the tank circuit.  The 
 MN> longer the primary coil the lower the freq., but how do      
 MN> changes in the capacitance effect the freq. of the primary? 

Basically the same way as increased inductance. The larger the
capacitor, the lower the frequency of the oscillation. This shows
the crucial relationship between frequency and power. It takes
more power to charge a larger capacitor, so the more powerful
coil systems operate at lower frequencies.

 MN> And does the gap distance effect the freq. at all, or does   
 MN> the gap just have to fire and quench well for optimum        
 MN> operation.

I have heard the spark gap in the Tesla tank circuit aptly
referred to as the "brain" of the system. It is the high voltage
switching mechanism that converts the tank circuit from the
charge mode to the pulse RF mode. It does not determine
frequency, but instead determines the peak voltage, dwell time, 
and the number of RF pulses per second. These are all critical to
operation of the circuit. 

 MN> Down the road I want to set up a magnifier secondary and     
 MN> third coil on the tank that I have now.  Should I change to  
 MN> an equidrive configuration for that?  

The Tesla Magnifier works with any tank circuit configuration
that works with 1/4 wave coils. Physical modifications would
include spark gap upgrades and new primary and secondary coils.
I would wait until you have a rotary in place before you start
firing the balanced or "equidrive" circuit.

Richard Quick



... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
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