Re: Now, How does a coil really work??

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Now, How does a coil really work??
From: Ed Phillips <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 05:00:58 -0700
Approved: twf-at-verinet-dot-com

"Bert,
I agree, it was a good question and a good answer. So many times I've
seen
coilers using static gaps but they always assume 120bps (60hz) or
100(50Hz). Most
really don't know and assume this. I'm curious how often we can fire the
gap
during a cycle? Is there a major limitation beyond electrical or
mechanical
stresses? My first thought at this I came up with 4 x main freq., but
the
more I
think about this, I bet the gap could be fired quite a few times during
a
cycle.

Bart"

	Not sure what you mean by "how often can we fire the gap....", but the
answer is many times per half-cycle of the line frequency if you set the
gap small enough. On the other hand, if you set the gap wide enough (and
your transformer doesn't short), or if you reduce the primary voltage to
your transformer, you can get the gap to fire once every few cycles if
the capacitor is series resonant with the transformer leakage
inductance.  (This is sometimes called "the matched capacitor".  You can
get all sorts of chaoatic behavior too.

	I've run a number of simulations which produce results which agree very
well with my observations, considering the simplifications involved. 
Should collect some of the predicted waveforms and have them ready to
send to anyone who is interested.

Ed