Zener SSTC?

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

Original poster: Chris Roberts <quezacotl_14000000000000-at-yahoo-dot-com> 

Hi everybody,
We all know that a conventional tesla coil uses a spark gap that fires and 
switches the current whenever the voltage builds high enough, but has 
anybody ever thought about using zener diodes to replace the spark gap? 
Zeners do the exact same thing, but allow you to fire more reliably, 
(wouldn't have to worry much about misfires) and I would think that they 
wouldn't have as many losses related to them either. So has anybody thought 
about making a "conventional" coil (tank capacitor, primary, etc.) but 
replacing the sparkgap with zeners? You could also get away with using a 
really low voltage since you don't need it to break the air gap. Mabye a 
simpler OLTC? Would you be able to get zeners rated for that kind of thing? 
Anybody else think that this could work?


-Chris