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1/4 Wave Theories - Trash Them!
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From: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com [SMTP:terryf-at-verinet-dot-com]
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 1998 1:05 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: 1/4 Wave Theories - Trash Them!
Hi All,
I wrote another paper. What many have suspected, appears to be true.
Tesla Coils are not antennas. They are transformers.
"An Analysis of Top and Bottom Currents in the Tesla Coil Secondary Inductor."
It can be found as a web page and WORD97 zip at:
http://www.peakpeak-dot-com/~terryf/tesla/experiments/experiments.html
This paper describes measurements of the top and bottom currents in a Tesla
coil secondary inductor. These measurements indicate that the secondary is
acting as a simple lumped inductor. There appears to be no 1/4 wave effect.
The currents are in phase. It appears that the 1/4 wave theory of Tesla
coil operation is incorrect. Also, the top terminal appears to be acting as
a simple capacitor in parallel with the coil's self capacitance. A model
for this behavior is presented.
You can take all those 1/4 wave models and all those books with
pretty sine wave current distributions and throw them away (Well.... save
Tesla's)! The basic Tesla coil is a simple lumped parameter transformer
with loose coupling. Very good news for spice modelers!
Still need to do some theorizing about the self capacitance........
Now.... comes the sparks!! :-))
Terry Fritz
terryf-at-verinet-dot-com
or
terryf-at-peakpeak-dot-com