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Re: Tank Capacitance: what is the limit
Subject: Re: Tank Capacitance: what is the limit
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 09:59:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
<< snip
> Again, my intuition tells me that the answer is that you
can't
> just arbitrarily increase your capacitance to gain current, but I'm not
sure
> exactly why. I have a feeling it has to do with the interaction between
the
> capacitor and the xfmr, perhaps related to the impedence of the capacitor,
and
> the ideal load on the xfmr. Or perhaps is it a frequency related thing
having to
> do with the LC circuit formed by the seconday of the xfmr and the
capacitor.
> Can anyone shed light on this, and perhaps bolster or destroy
my
faith
>in my own intuition.
Brendan,
Your intuition is correct on both counts; If the cap is too large for
the
transformer, the transformer won't be able to supply enough current fast
enough to charge it within one 60 Hz AC half cycle. Also ideally, the
cap
and transformer should be reasonably matched to give a resonant charging
effect. I don't remember the formula either, but I'm sure someone will
post
it.
Another reason you can't easily use a giant capacitor, is that you may
have
to use less than one turn in the Tesla coil primary in order to tune the
coil, unless you also used a giant secondary coil to give the very low
frequency needed to tune the thing.
Finally, A TC using a giant capacitor would demand a tremendous input
power
-- perhaps more than is available unless you own the power company.
> Thanks Again,
> Brendan
>>
Happy giant-cap coiling, :)
John Freau