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Re: Top Toroid

In a message dated 97-02-05 03:08:07 EST, you write:

- el snippo -

<< It is still a question in my mind, whether slow break-rate, big bang, is
 equal to fast break-rate, small bang.  There could be something going on
 with, for instance, the ion cloud that cause sparks to "grow" better with
one
 scenario than with the other.  Something perhaps related to Richard Hull's
 findings, that slow break rates cause more DC electrostatic charging, (and
 maybe more spark length too)?  This whole break-rate question seems
 underexplored compared to many other TC aspects.
 
 Going back to non-sync gaps, I had an idea, which I don't know if I posted
 previously, that may suggest a scenario whereby non-sync gaps may enjoy an
 unexpected boost in efficiency:  When a non-sync gap is run at a certain
 speed, and with a certain number of electrodes, it may give for instance 2
 breaks per half cycle for awhile, then 3 breaks per half cycle, for awhile.
  In this cycling is rapid enough, the eye will not really see the sparks
 cycling (varying) in length, yet strong sparks will occur on a
 regular,periodic basis, sparks that are perhaps longer than what would be
 expected at the AVERAGE power level being used.  In other words, some sparks
 are strong, some are weak, and the average power input is somewhere "in
 between", so current is lower (than if all half cyles had 3 breaks), yet we
 do occasionally get strong sparks, which is all we really care about.  And
we
 can declare now declare this coil "more efficicient", from a "coiler's"
 viewpoint, but not of course from the true engineering viewpoint.
 
 >Flames, brickbats, and cat-calls are heartily welcomed. :^
  
 >- Bert H. --
   >>
 
 Guess I carried on enough for today!   Comments (of all types) welcomed!
 
 John Freau
  >>
I agree, this is a good topic for discussion.  My original rotary gap
(asynchronous) was made from 3/8" polycarbonate, 10" in dia., with 8
electrodes.  It is mounted on a 10,000 rpm series wound 1/2 hp motor (it's
all I could find at the time - I know it is was too fast and I have never
opened it up).  I had been running it at about 1/3 open on the variac.  I am
not sure how the rpm track with the voltage, but lets say this is about 3000
rpm.  This would provide about 400 breaks per second.  Which is about what
Richard Hull says is a good speed.  I noticed, however, that as I increased
the rpm from there the sparks got longer (performance went up), more
frequent, and the primary current went up.  It got to the point where the
faster I ran it, the better it worked.  Once I got it up to what I thought
was about 5,000 rpm, I was concerned that I was going to explode the rotor.
 So I built a new rotor, still 10" in dia, with 16 electrodes.  Now I ran it
at about 3,000 rpm (a guess) and had 800 bps.  Still, as I increased the
rotor speed, performance went up.  At 5,000 rpm this would be 1,333 bps.

This is all with my 6" coil running with the 5kva pole pig.  When my
Condenser Products cap blew up, I was probably running somewhere around 1,000
bps.  Maybe this is why I lost it, I know the pulses per second are a
critical design factor with these.

A question for Richard Hull, if 400 to 600 bps is what you see from
experience as a good general number, why does this coil want higher and
higher rpm?

Comments anyone?

Ed Sonderman