Re: Superiority of the magnifier

["Malcolm Watts" <malcolm.watts-at-wnp.ac.nz> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi Adam,
              Well, the invitation's there:

On 1 Jun 00, at 22:16, Tesla List wrote:

> Original Poster: "Adam Parker" <park_e_r-at-hiwaay-dot-net> 
> 
>      
>  
> For those on the list who have fiddled with a Tesla coil until they have
> squeezed every last possible inch of spark out of it, and those who have
played
> around with magnifiers, what is the general theory among list members on the
> advantages of a magnifier (if any)?
>  
> It seems that even after quite e few of us have experimented with a three
coil
> arrangement, the specicifics on "just why should we build one" still remains
> indecisive and sketchy. Some people even argue that the extra coil principle
> offers no real advantages over the "classic" system at all.

The only benefit I can see is that you can get the business end of 
the coil well clear of the primary circuit (and anything else) to 
maximise discharge distances.
  
> Just to quench my curiosity, I'd like some opinions from list members on what
> they think gives the magnifier the upper hand in performance.
>  
> And of course, here's my own two cents:
>  
> It seems to me that the main advantage comes from the huge coupling
coefficient
> between the primary and secondary coils. This means a great deal more of the
> power is making it to the spark than is in a regular two coil system.
There are
> plenty of claims that support the "de-coupled" theory, saying the the absence
> of mutual inductance between the extra coil and the rest of the system makes
> the difference. It may make a difference. It may make a big difference. I
> certainly believe from my experiences that most of the gain comes the the
> higher coupling.
>  
> What does eveybody else think? I sure hope I haven't stepped on anyone's
toes.

I don't believe that theory for a disruptive system. The primary is not 
a voltage source, hence the output of the secondary doesn't look like 
one so impedance at the base of the extra coil is relatively high 
compared with a direct connection to ground. Measurements have 
shown me that the secondary+extra coils behave as a single entity. 
There is a caveat on that though: with certain k's as detailed on Dr 
de Queiroz' website, you can get all energy in the resonator alone. 
However desirable that might sound, the resonator is still going to be 
subject to voltage limitations so a short resonator in a three coil 
system can't do any better voltage-wise before it flashes over than 
that in a two coil system. In saying that I am only considering the 
resonator voltage alone - I'm excluding the extra voltage across 
secondary winding (in the three coil system) which is added to the 
resonator voltage (assuming one doesn't get all energy into the 
resonator alone).

That's my lot anyway.
Malcolm