Re: Pulsed Caps

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi John,

Tesla caps have to discharge hundreds of amps in a few millionths of a
second at say 120 times per second.  Thus, they need very heavy lead
connections with low resistance and low inductance.  The dielectrics also
have to have very low loss so the current does not generate too much heat
in them.  "Typical" caps will burn right up in a Tesla coil primary.

There are "pure" pulse type caps that are made to discharge a very high
current pulses but only about once a minute.  These are still made with
very high current in mind but they give up a fast pulse rate (they have
high losses) in favor of getting as much capacitance as possible in a
relatively small volume.  These may store up to 50000 Joules and push
500000 amps!!  Their values and AC ratings are not appropriate for Tesla
coil uses.

Cheers,

	Terry

At 11:14 AM 1/17/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi guys!! Question ,how do pluse caps differ from regular caps? Is the method 
>to "feed" them any different?Do they discharge differently? Hey KEEP THE LIST 
>COMING. Thanks
>                                                    john in nyc
>