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- To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
- Subject: Re: Tube Type Tesla Coils
- From: "Malcolm Watts" <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 09:43:14 +1200
- Organization: Wellington Polytechnic, NZ
- Priority: normal
Hi John, You wrote.... > 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. Actually Tesla was after a goal of high breaks and CW operation in a number of cases. It was difficult for him to physically realize with the equipment he had at the time. I'd suggest that classifying tube coils like this is largely semantics. > 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. I beg to differ. Once loaded by spark they are loaded like an antenna, albeit with a non-linear resistance. VSWR is high until sparks are emitted, then it drops drastically and tends to stay low as loading is more or less continuous. I don't think a separate list is needed at all. Malcolm > 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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