RE: ASRG - Performance Testing

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

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

Hi Dan,

At 11:34 AM 1/24/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>5. I would challenge anyone who has made one of these gaps to run a simple
>test: will the gap run continuously for 1 week without self destructing? I
>don't mean commutating an operating Tesla coil, but just sitting alone in a
>corner behind a shield with the motor running.  This might seem extreme at
>first, given the duty cycle of a Tesla coil, but certainly a rotary gap
>could be expected to see several hours of cumulative run time over the life
>of a coil. Demonstrating a survival time of 20X actual run time (or 40
>hours) is not unreasonable, given the possible consequences of failure.
>
> >>>>>>Challenge accepted!  I will attempt to do this test.  Do you think
>it could be broken down into say 8 hour intervals over a period of a few
>days,
>or do you think its absolutely necessary to have a continual 40 hour run???
>I know at work, some tests require uninterrupted testing while others can be
>broken down and run through a few sessions.
>
>Dan


8 hour intervals should be fine and it does add the stress of thermal 
cycling.  If you could run it in the cold (like outside overnight) and 
maybe put a heat lamp on it at other times, that would really get the 
thermal stress factors going too.

Personally, I would try to run it till it breaks or for a very long time to 
see what parts want to give out first.  But if it goes for 40 hours without 
signs of failing, it's probably fine ;-)

Cheers,

         Terry