Re: VTTC output

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

Original poster: "Herwig Roscher by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <herwig.roscher-at-gmx.de>


Ed Phillips wrote:

> > Trying to max out my system I connected a 5 Ohm resistor
> > between the base of the secondary and rf ground. I scoped the
> > voltage across this resistor and found it to be 20 Vpp at low input
> > power levels.
> > Increasing the input power real streamers started growing from the
brush, resulting in about 40 Vpp across the resistor. Obviously 
streamers have a lower resistance than the brush. 
>From 40 Vpp an effective current of about 2.5 A is calculated and I'm
wondering when the AWG 26 will become hot.

>  Probably won't get hot.  Your secondary has a lot of area and, when you
> calculate the total dissipation and divide it by the area, you will find
> the power density (watts/square inch, centimeter, or whatever) is quite
> low and easily cooled by convection.

Ed,

I've just finished another series of tests: Using 15 kOhm/1.6 nF as 
grid leak combination and a Vg2 of 1200 V, the plate current was 
480 mA at a plate voltage of 8600 Vdc. Seems that I reached the 
limits of my tube  ;-)

The tank caps became barely warm and the primary coil reached 
about 30 deg C after a few minutes of testing with various loads. 
But the lower part of the secondary became so hot that I hardly 
could touch it (more than 60 deg C ?).

Trying to find a possibility to "measure" the relative output power 
instead of guessing it by eye, I've used 
- the a.m. 5 Ohm resistor
- a pickup coil of 4 turns wound on the form of the primary at a 
distance of 3.5" and connected to a 230 V/100 W bulb. The voltage 
across this bulb is 130 Vpp and nearly independent(!!) on the power 
output.

I was really surprised that the system is so insensitive. Could the 
reason be that I'm using a tetrode which has a very high plate 
resistance in comparison to triodes?

If I calculated the tank voltage from 67 turns of primary / 4 turns of 
pickup coil and multiply it by 130 Vpp, I get 2200 Vpp. IMO this is 
low, taking into consideration the plate voltage of 10 kVdc. 

Any hints or comments?

Bye		Herwig