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- To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
- Subject: Tube Type Tesla Coils
- From: "John H. Couture" <couturejh-at-worldnet.att-dot-net>
- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 06:30:50 +0000
To All - I have noticed lately that sometimes over 50% of the Tesla List postings refer to tube type TC's. It should be noted that tube type TC's are not true Tesla coils. Tube TC's operate with continuous sine waves from a radio transmitter type of power supply. The load on the transmitter is not the usual resistive antenna type load but a reactive coil circuit load. This device uses coils and capacitors in a much different manner than the way they are used in standard Tesla coils. There is no charging of a primary capacitor to create dampened sine waves like the typical classical TC, etc. This type of operation produces brush type sparks and sometimes disruptive sparks depending on the adjustments. The tube operation and the classical coil TC (or magnifier) operation are two completely different methods of producing sparks. The standard classical TC operates with a VSWR of about 10 to 1000 while the tube TC operates with a VSWR of about 1 to 3 like most radio transmitters. I show a graph of these two types of operation in the Tesla Coil Notebook. Has anyone tried to measure the VSWR of their classical or tube coils? The Corum's said they had made these measurements but gave no details. I have tried to make these tests but did not have much success. At one time I started to add a chapter to one of my books that would cover tube TC's. I soon realized that I could not find enough information on these devices to develop a method of engineering design criteria that was possible with the typical classical TC's. It appears that now there are several coilers that have enough information to write a tube TC book and publish it for other coilers interested in this type of device. My question is " Should tube TC's be on a separate Tesla List of it's own?". Coilers who are interested in tube types will then not have to scan thru classical coil (or magnifier) postings to find the information they need. John C.
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