Re: Directions for tesla coil research

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>
> 
> HI Paul, Jim,
> 
> On 3 May 2002, at 10:41, Tesla list wrote:
> 
> > Original poster: "Paul Nicholson by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <paul-at-abelian.demon.co.uk>
> >
> > Jim's comments cut to the heart of the matter:  The question is,
> > what is the relative significance of topload voltage and topload
> > charge in determining streamer performance?
> 
> Absolutely agree. It's been a hobby horse of mine for quite a while
> now. For one of my coils, increasing Ctop by an effective 100% (Ctot
> increased from about 26pF to 33pF or so) resulted in a 25% increase
> in reach with the same primary energy and breakrate. However,
> unloaded primary Q was also increased by 50% as a result of retuning
> so the Ctop factor did not sit alone. Given half a chance (like a
> suitable test room), I'd like to boost Ctop further and check for
> further improvement. Maybe in the semester break in June.
> 
> Regards,
> malcolm

	I've long suspected that the beneficial effect of big topload
capacitance is to reduce the L/C ratio of the secondary, thereby
lowering the resonant frequency and increasing the Q for the same
streamer loading.  Result is there should be more energy stored before
breakout, and coupling should be easier to adjust.

Ed