Re: Tank Circuit Stray Inductance...

To: tesla-at-grendel.objinc-dot-com
Subject: Re: Tank Circuit Stray Inductance...
From: dll-at-egg-rb-dot-com
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 1996 12:14:38 -0500 (EST)
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It appears from your statement that you see five or six current bursts per half 
cycle that your gaps are chopping.  This means that they are not fully entering 
the arc mode.  This is not necessarily a bad thing because this chopping 
probably pumps your primary circuit up to a higher peak voltage, but it does 
mean that the effective arc resistance is higher than it would be if the gaps 
fully commutated.  

I found with my own Tesla coil that air gaps and smaller hermetically sealed 
gaps got hot fast.  I had a ceramic-metal gap with two inch diameter Molybdenum 
electrodes backfilled with Hydrogen to a static breakdown voltage of ten kv dc. 
This gap will drive the coil continuously without getting too hot.

I like Hydrogen because it transfers heat very well, and has a shorter 
deionization time than many other gases.