Top Voltage

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

Original poster: "Terrell W. Fritz by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <terrellf-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi All,

I recently posted these to the TSSP list but thought it may be of interest too
all...

Terry


==========================
TSSP 9:53PM  9/11/2002

Hi All,

I have gotten some round brass spheres for the top of the OLTC.  The sit on a
0.375 inch diameter brass rod on top of the coil.  A current sensor is
connected to the rods base.

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020911/P9110013.jpg

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020911/P9110012.jpg

I have three spheres.  Their diameter is (inches):

#1  0.981
#2  1.354
#3  1.833

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020911/P9110014.jpg

The secondary coil's specs are:
LsecDC = 0.487H
#28 wire
10.75 inches diameter
Base height = 3.5 inches
Winding length = 41 inches
Toroid center 50 inches
Toroid 23.5 diameter 6.5 inch cord
Height of ball center above toroid center
        #1  13.5
        #2  13.7
        #3  13.95
Rod diameter 0.375

I pinged the coil with the toroid and without (without ball too):

PK  FREQ kHz (Error +/-)    Q FACTOR (Error +/-)   LEVEL
 1   37.801 (0.01%,5Hz)       42.94 (0.41%, 0.2)  -0.3dB
 2  113.550 (0.01%,16Hz)      19.45 (0.83%, 0.2)  -13.5dB
 3  171.773 (0.01%,24Hz)      14.32 (3.32%, 0.5)  -19.2dB
Accounted for 99.36% of input signal


PK  FREQ kHz (Error +/-)    Q FACTOR (Error +/-)   LEVEL
 1   52.203 (0.02%,8Hz)       27.72 (13.28%, 3.7) -0.2dB
 2  125.605 (0.02%,19Hz)      15.29 (1.97%, 0.3)  -12.4dB
 3  179.477 (0.02%,28Hz)      13.18 (5.58%, 0.7)  -17.1dB
 4  228.129 (0.02%,35Hz)      13.20 (9.39%, 1.2)  -21.1dB
 5  275.953 (0.02%,43Hz)      13.83 (13.28%, 1.8) -25.2dB
Accounted for 98.00% of input signal

I tried a little first test tonight and got the following base current wave
forms:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020911/S1.gif
http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020911/S2.gif
http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020911/S3.gif

So I think it is ready to go.

Cheers,

        Terry


==========================
TSSP 5:31PM  9/13/2002

I went back in with the plane wave antenna and caught one of the Big Ball arcs:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913/Tek00005.gif

Much different than:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913/Tek00004.gif

I suspect the fiber optic transmitter just saturated it all into a blob.  Time
for the 0.1 ohm resistor...

I took this shot at the same input level with no breakout:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913/Tek00006.gif

Here is one with breakout:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913/Tek00007.gif

You can see how the single pulse drained energy from the system.  If one where
clever, one could find how much energy ;-))

The base current (blue) is 1 amp = 1 volt but I have no cal for the secondary
voltage shown in yellow here.  If we can estimate it, we know the arc energy. 
I should take a picture of the arc too.  I don't even know what it looks like. 
I just watch the scope ;-))

Cheers,

        Terry

==========================
TSSP 8:17PM  9/13/2002

Hi Again.

I replaced the resistor in the sensor head with a 0.1 ohm.  It did not change
things much except the levels.

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Tek00000.gif

So 1A = 2.44mV now.  or 10mV = 4.1A

The head now has an impedance of 0.1 ohms too which cleans things up a bit.  We
still see a 4 amp spike and all but the ring down following it is more clear. 
Probably something real there.

Here is a backed off view of the thing:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Tek00001.gif

One big spike and many little spikes.

Here is a closer especially active burst:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Tek00002.gif

I turned up the power (the meter froze so don't know the voltage.  Probably
proportional to base current) the spikes started going UP!!

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Tek00003.gif

Firing on the first high voltage peak now which is opposite in polarity.

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Tek00004.gif

As I continued to turn it up, this spike just gets bigger and bigger.  100mV =
41 amps!!

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Tek00005.gif

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Tek00006.gif

So it appears these arcs are just single very short bursts of energy at this
level.  I tired to get a nice picture but catching a 50nS event is really
really hard ;-))  Maybe I can get it on video...

An hour later........

Ok, this is the best I could do at catching some of the higher power shots...

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/PaulArc/020913-1/Image10.jpg

Cheers,

        Terry