Re: Capacitor Advice

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

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

THose aren't really suitable for TC use...
Not only are they impractically large, but their life time is fairly short,
in TC terms.  They probably have a rated life of around 10,000 or maybe
100,000 shots, which in a 100 kHz TC would be used in a second (literally).
One could derate them, but even so, the large C would make them impractical.

However, they are a handy piece of HV gear. You could use them in something
like a quartershrinker or to drive an impulse transformer. 3-4 kJ per cap is
nothing to sneeze at.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2002 3:52 PM
Subject: Capacitor Advice


 > Original poster: "Damon by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<lists-at-natch-dot-net>
 >
 > I emailed a couple people before asking advice, and got some good advice,
 > but wanted more.  I picked up three capacitors from work that I was
thinking
 > of incorporating into my Tesla coil.  I signed up to this list about 4
 > months ago and just now found the paperwork for them.
 >
 > The capacitors are from Maxwell Laboratories, Inc.  They are "Series C
Pulse
 > Discharge Capacitors" that claim to be designed for "reliable,
high-voltage,
 > low-inductance capacitor bank applications where fast current rise times,
 > high-voltage reversals..."  Data sheet is from 1974.  Caps look to be in
 > wonderful condition, weighing in at a mere 220 lbs each.
 >
 > The ones I have are rated at 40kv, ~4.5uF and ~0.02 uH effective
inductance.
 > My boss says they were used for some pulse laser application and estimated
 > to discharge about 100kA.
 >
 > My old coil has a pair of 15kv 30ma NSTs.  I realize that 4.5uF is
excessive
 > for a TC application.  I've been told that a single turn primary may work
in
 > this situation.  I was wondering of anyone here had toyed with making a
coil
 > with this level of capacitance, or if they had advice on doing so.
 >
 > -
 > natch
 >
 >