Triac Power Control

• To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
• Subject: Triac Power Control
• From: "Gregory R. Hunter" <ghunter-at-enterprise-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
• Date: Fri, 04 Sep 1998 05:51:48 -0600
• Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

Coil Gurus,

If I use only resistive ballast (heater elements) to limit my 5KW pig,
couldn't I also use a big Triac for power control?  I know Triacs don't
like highly reactive loads (like pole xfmrs!), but it seems like the heater
elements should smooth things out enough for a reasonably rugged Thyristor
to survive.  Of course, the resulting AC would be messy, but Tesla coils
don't require "clean" power, do they?  I'd use something like a 40A / 600V
TO-3.  I realize such a control won't give true variable AC voltage like a
Variac, but it should provide adjustable input power.  Has anybody tried this?

Greg

• Prev: Re: VARIAC QUESTIONS
• Next: Very High Freq. TCs and MICROWAVE WEAPONS...
• Index(es):
  • Main
  • Thread