Re: IMPORTANT: RESEARCH ON WHAT?

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: IMPORTANT: RESEARCH ON WHAT?
From: Bryan Work <bryan-at-apexrad-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 21:37:15 -0700
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

Tesla List wrote:

> Original Poster: Sulaiman Abdullah <sulaiman-at-lityan-dot-com.my>
>
> Marco,
> Of all T.C. parameters THE most useful would be analysis of spark/arc
> characteristics presented for Ph.D. types, with a cook-book addendum for
> us !
> e.g.
> For a given powerline frequency (e.g. 50 Hz) correlate spark length
> against primary energy for various variables such as operating
> frequency, coil type/size, terminal type/size etc., if you've time
> formulate a cook-book (PhD-class) that tells us how to get the most from
> a given input.
> This is not easy as the 'Great Unknown' for T.C. operation is matching
> available energy to best arcs.
> All the rest of T.C. analysis is relatively straightforward,
> ONLY the spark-gap and discharge arc characteristics are not
> 'parameterised'
>
> my opinion ... Sulaiman  (a raw beginner)
>
> > My questions are:
> >
> > 1. What is still not understood about Tesla Coils and what would be
> > worth
> > investigating about? In that laboratory I am confident I could, for
> > instance, measure all the parameters of a TC you have always been
> > dreaming
> > about and try to make a model of it.
> >
> <snip>

  Although the chracterization of the SG would have the possibility of a
useful PhD thesis project, I think that in order to make it acceptible to
the thesis review commitee it would have to include several things.

First, it would have to establish the known science in the arena. This
would have to go into plasma physics, electronic characterisation of the
resonant depolarization in the steady state, different technologies of
triggering/HV SWITCHING which would have to inevitably  cover tube, SCR,
and klystrode methods.

Another possible area of interest is the arena of difficulty of prediction
of Q (possibly even the souces variability of Q) encountered in system
design. Why is it so difficult to predict resonant frequencies, for
example. Why can't you predict coupling factors from given geometries of
primary and secondary? There are numerous apparent unpredictable features,
Is it possible to build a TC to spec and have it actually perform as
predicted? If not, Why NOT?

This is a wothy challenge, and could serve to further the science. The one
thing that a PhD. Thesis must do is to present a substantiated original
work of non-trivial significance.

Bryan Kaufman