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Re: The Equa-Drive System

Hello Reinhard,

> Original Poster: RWB355-at-aol-dot-com 
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I have seen a few "special" tank circuits and I suppose these are called
> Equadrive systems. Let me sketch the setup: You need a ct|d HV xformer. Each
> hv lead goes through a RFC to a capacitor. The upper lead (from the cap)
goes
> to the upper primary coil connection and the lower hv cap lead does the same
> for the lower coil connection. The center tap of the transformer connects
to a
> center tap on the primary coil via a spark gap. Is this correct?

No.
 
> Crummy ASCII drawing:
> 
> |---------|RFC|--------| |-----------------|
> |                                              |
> |<--HV xformer secondary          |
> |------------------> <-----------------------| <----Primary of the Tesla
coil
> |                                              |
> |                                              |
> |-----------|RFC|--------| |--------------|
> 
> 
> And now my question: 
> What is the advantage of this type of system? I can|t really see any. 

It won't work. Consider the equivalent circuit when the gap fires. 
The choke side of the caps is effectively isolated from the tank.
 
> 1.) You have to build two very identical caps (otherwise there won|t be a
> "Equa" in the Equadrive system) 
> 
> 2.) The construction (well the wiring really) of the primary is more
> complicated. 
> 
> 3.) Flashover might be a problem, too, because the voltage at the top
half of
> the primary is only half the voltage it would be in a normal TC tank circuit
> (actually higher potential difference between Vsec and Vpri along any
point on
> the primary winding). 
> 
> 4.) The last disadvantage I see is that part of the xformer winding is
used to
> "transport" the energy from the cap to the primary as the spark gap
conducts.
> This means HV RF current flows through the windings (I|m pretty sure this
> would blow most NST|s) of the xformer. 

Probably and it can't work if the primary tank includes the impedance 
of the transformer and choke in series with it. If you look at the 
various primary circuits (the ones that will work) and draw out the 
simplified equivalents you'll see they all boil down to one 
configuration with the sole exception of whether the transformer 
appears across the primary cap or gap.

> Now, whoever designed this system (I think such a schematic was actually
drawn
> by Nikola Tesla) had to see an advantage using it, but where is it?

Don't think Tesla ever drew out a circuit like that.

Malcolm