Re: A Little more than general questions V

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Hi Wade,

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Wade B AndB Anderson by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <nabedaw-at-juno-dot-com>
>
> Hi People,
>
>   I seen the mention of "quenching" in a number of postings, and I'm abit
> befuddled? Thats a good word, befuddled, but why quench the spark gap and
> what are some of the better methods to use???

Quenching the spark gap is to cause it to stop conducting. When the gap
stops conducting, the energy
coupled from the primary to the secondary is being dissipated in the
streamers rather than oscillating
back across the gap and being dissipated there on each swing. If your
trying to create sparks with TC's,
then you don't wan't all the energy lost in the gap. You want the gap to
conduct (switch closed), couple
energy from primary to secondary, quench (open switch), and let the energy
oscillate between primary and
secondary creating sparks until dissipation, then your ready for the next
bang (charged cap and closed
switch) doing it all over again.

Basic and still best methods of quenching are:
forced air cooling of static gaps, rotary gaps, electrode size and
heatsinks of capable size for the power
used (both rotary and static gaps).

> The Toriod.... Most, in fact all of the toriods that I've seen photos of
> ( with the exception of Tesla's) are donut shaped. Does a sphere prevent
> the spark breakout???

Nope.

> What are the advantages or disadvantages to using a sphere vs. a donut???

Toroids are used quite a lot these for many reasons: Their shape alone
performs many advantages. The
toroid shape couples with the top field of the secondary. This has the
affect of allowing the toroid
itself to build the charge and output sparks. Without this "shielding", the
top of the secondary will
produce corona and often times actually discharge out of the top winding of
the secondary. The toroid
shape also has a lot of surface area and the top load capacitance is high
for a terminal. A sphere will
work as would many other top terminal gizmo's, but you'll find more corona
and problems with them than
torroids.

The toroid helps to control the sparks. By setting the radius of curvature
(controls at what charge
potential will begin breakout), the size and height (capacitance of
terminal which affects the resonant
frequency by it's size and proximity to the secondary both above and around
it, as well as effects from
surrounding objects) for the power applied and for the coil size. At this
time, it's still a trial and
error event to get the biggest spark for your bang.

Bart A.


>
> Anyway, thanks,
>
> Wade