Re: Car Coil

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

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>

Tesla list wrote:
 
> Original poster: "davep" <davep-at-quik-dot-com>

>         & yes, to some extent this makes every car ignition a Tesla Coil,
>         as near as i can tell...  Not that Nikola Tesla ever patented
>         that application...   I think...

The primary capacitor can really be dimensioned to cause an energy 
transfer similar to what occurs in a Tesla coil. But a different
kind of Tesla coil, where almost all the initial energy is in the 
magnetic field of the primary coil instead of in the primary capacitor.
An analysis of this system shows that there are some important
differences in the behavior. Optimal energy transfer
is obtained when the primary and secondary circuits are slightly
out of tune, and the optimum coupling coefficients are different.

Another, maybe more important, function of the capacitor is to impede
sparking at the opening of the primary circuit, what otherwise would
cause immediate loss of most of the energy, before it gets transferred
to the secondary circuit.

This idea comes from Fizeau, in 1853, and was what turned induction
coils a practical source of high voltage electricity. An idea much
older that Tesla coils.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz