PlasmaSonic Audio Modulation - Success and Failure!

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

Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>



The initial tests of the PlasmaSonic SSTC Coil with resonator load were
successful.  I first measured the resonant frequency of my secondary
which turned out to be
about 350kHz.  I then tuned the PlasmaSonic driver, hooked up the
secondary, applied some power, and
the thing came to life instantly.

I then hooked up an audio source to the driver and the thing worked
flawlessly.  There was some clipping distortion at
first, but then I adjusted the source output level and audio quality was
impressive considering its coming from an arc!
I played about 3 or 4 songs and then popped in the Nine Inch Nails CD.
The music was VERY loud and I was pushing about 2kW CW power.

I was jamming along with NIN . . . "I want to %#$!!-at- you like an animal"
. . . dancing like a fool in my dark living
room around the singing arc in a trance like fashion when all of a
sudden.

snap - snaP  SNAP  BOOOOOMM ! ! !  <A Big Flash> and a big cloud of
smoke - and then FIRE ! ! ! ! !

(good thing I was wearing those safety glasses!)

Once the fire subsided, I proceeded to inspect the damage and the
free-wheeling TO-220 Schottky diode was a molten
glob of goo.  The board was heavily scorched, although I think it could
just be wiped off with a rag and some alcohol.
With the deadtime, those diodes were probably taking some heavy average
currents.

Of course, I didn't run a fan since I wanted to hear the full audio
without any distraction from outside sources.
I can usually run awhile without a fan, but this was too long.  Probably
10-15 minutes continous without a fan.

Anyways, I replaced one FET and one MUR1440 (diode) and i'm back in
business.  I put my big muffin fan ontop the monster
heatsinks, and everything is very cool now during running, although the
noise from the fan is a little bit distracting.
I ran again at almost 30 minutes same power level with no problems with
the fan and afterwards, not one component was
a bit warm.

Pictures of my finished coil will be posted at the end of August once I
official unveil it for a teslathon next month I'm
attending.

The Captain