Re: A new idea? ...different geometries in coil construction more efficient?

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 4/7/02 3:22:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:

Matt,

I once tried using a copper tubing primary which was flat
for the outer portion, but had a 45 degree angle for the inner
portion.  It gave the same results as any other shape.  I've
never seen any spark length benefit from any particular
primary shape.  Although some shapes may have a slight
theoretical advantage, I very much doubt that any spark
length improvement can be seen.  The losses in the primary
are considerably smaller than the spark gap losses, so the
gap losses dominate.

Cheers,
John


>
> I've been tinkering with primary coil inductance based on setting everything
> else except the hypotenuse as variables wrt theta (angle of rise).  Looks
> like the best inductance is right around 18.36 degrees (small peak).  Now
> this isn't anything new, but, has anybody ever tinked around with coil
> designs using a geometry other than a linear coil? (in essence, cones,
> solenoids, spirals are linear in cross  section).  Although the engineering
> could become a real pain in the rear with these different shapes, but maybe
> there is something out there that could be more efficient than the common
> shapes used.