RQ gap observation

• To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
• Subject: RQ gap observation
• From: Ross <ross-o-at-mindspring-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
• Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 07:50:49 -0600
• Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
• Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

There was waaay too much peer pressure from Basura and Fritz with their
new power controllers, so I just had to build a new fancy one.  One of
the new features is the ability to turn the auxiliary stuff (fan on RQ
gap) off while still applying power to the NSTs.  Not exactly the latest
in technology, but it led to an interesting observation last night.  I
turned the fan off in the middle of a high powered run expecting
performance to diminish, but to my surprise there was no change?!?  It
possibly even run better.  I tried it several times with identical
results (several 40" arcs  and tens of smaller arcs off of a small
toroid).

My gap is 8 sections of 1" copper pipe spaced at .030" around the I.D.
of some 6" SDR.  The gap is currently tapped at .180" total.  You can
see a pic at
http://www.geocities-dot-com/CapeCanaveral/Cockpit/3377/tesla/gap.html

Has anyone seen anything like this?  I have always heard that RQ type
gaps need airflow to work well?

I hope to get some pics of the new controller and get it on the web in
the next week or so.  It is a 10"x10"x18" box made out of 1/8" thick AL
plate.  It houses a 30A contactor, 20A variac, 3 Corcom line filters,
30A meter, 150VAC meter, and various lights.  All power connections are
made with 10ga wire and the plugs for power in and power out are 30A
twist-locks.  It even has a lighted deadman switch (ooooh, aaaah)
mounted on a 5' cord.  More info coming soon...

Cheers,
--
Ross Overstreet
Huntington Beach, CA
ICQ 20762411

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