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Arc Load Match
Hi All,
My Tesla coil model suggests something that may be rather interesting.
Perhaps a bleeding edge experiment for the adventurous!
Since arcs appear to be capacitive at around 1pF per foot of arc. It may
be possible to add an inductor to the output to counter-act this
capacitance and allow greater energy to be delivered to the arc. I
calculate that, in the case of my 110kHz coil, a 460uH inductor would
cancel the 5pF of load capacitance of the arc. This would theoretically
allow 30% more energy to be delivered into the arc's resistance. This
inductor added between the top terminal and the arc would have to stand off
the coil's full output voltage. Thus, it's dimensions would be similar to
the secondary but with far fewer turns. The current would be small however
(~1A). Perhaps an inductor, suspended by nylon thread, could be connected
to the top terminal and the arcs from the other end of the "extra coil"
(I've heard that term before :-)) would be greater. Perhaps the people who
work with magnifiers know about this effect and could shed more light on
this? If someone were to have a spare large secondary form around perhaps
an experiment could be performed. I calculated (OK, MathCad did it :-))
the inductances that would cancel 5pF at various frequencies below for
reference. The values would not have to be very exact at all.
Fo L
100K 506uH
150K 338uH
200K 253uH
250K 203uH
300K 169uH
350K 145uH
400K 127uH
The reactance of a capacitor is: Xc = 1 / (2 x pi x Fo x C)
The reactance of an inductor is: Xl = 2 x pi x Fo x L
To cancel them: Xc = Xl
I haven't tried this yet, so I really don't know what would happen... I do
wonder if the self capcitance and such of the extra coil may be a problem?....
Terry