Re: Tesla coil sizes and idea

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

Original poster: "Dr. Resonance" <resonance-at-jvlnet-dot-com> 


Fat, short coils with efficient design produce good output but tend to arc
to primary.

Long coils don't intercept the complete magnetic field from the primary and
loose power transfer.

4.5:1 height/dia. sec is good aspect ratio for most designs --- even pole
xmfr designs.

We did a coil once with 3,000 turns --- it didn't outperform our standard
1,400 turn coil.  Too much resistance.

We tend to standardize everything to 1,400 turns and 4.5:1 for small and
medium size coils, and use 1,200 turns with 4.5:1 for large, high power
coils.

These values usually produce a coil with a spark length of 1.25 x the sec.
winding length.  Values greater than this will breakdown with time unless
protected by a 4 x sec. dia. toroid.  With our design parameters we use 2:1
toroid/sec. dia. ratio for most all of our coils.  Good performance with out
headaches of flashover, etc.  Stability is important in coils running day
in/day out such as museum applications, etc.

Dr. Resonance

 > Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering if there's any particular reason for
some
 > common specs: Shooting for about 1000 turns and the 4 to 1 aspect ratio,
 > specifically. What about using several thousand turns? What about a tall
or
 > fat coil?
 >