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Re: (Fwd: secondary waveforms)



Hi Skip, all,
             Interesting observations....

<snip>
> The current waveforms look great....now. Just like they are supposed to.
> On top of looking good they can tell you a lot about what's going on.
> For instance...my system was quenching on about the fifth notch due at
> least in part to the fact that the coupling was too tight (k=.25). By
> reducing the coupling I gained another 4" of discharge length and the
> gap now quenches at the third notch.
> 
> More to come..
> 
> Skip

     Points of note: Less energy is getting to the secondary with 
lower k (more lost in the gap in the process because of increased 
transfer time), the new value of k may now mean that transfer occurs
in an integral number of half cycles of ring (greater peak Vout 
despite greater gap loss - but this is unsubstantiated at this point), 
and finally quench time is substantially altered despite absolutely 
no change to the gap system. I think this is clear evidence that (a) 
typical gap systems have far less control over quenchtimes than an 
optimal secondary unload (energy retained in Ls controls the gap), 
and (b) I think this shows that a system exhibiting this 
characteristic must be considered coupled during secondary discharge 
(until the gap has extinguished). 
     Being able to monitor Is means that you should be able to 
position a discharge rod to achieve the optimum output impedance 
under normal running conditions as opposed to single shot running. 
If you do, I would be most interested to hear your observations.

Malcolm