Re: Tesla Coiling / High Voltage Research Topics

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

Original poster: Bart Anderson <classi6-at-classictesla-dot-com> 

Hi Gary,

Good idea. I did a test sometime back for John Couture using a simple 
method to determine power. An analog meter was connected across a solar 
panel (2" x 3" I picked up from Jameco). I put the lamps in an aluminum 
enclosure which had a 1/2" hole in the side. I taped the solar panel in 
place on the outside of the enclosure over the hole. The current through 
the lamps caused a voltage to be produced back at the analog meter. 
Following logging data, I then powered the lamps with a DC source and 
adjusted the voltage until I had the same reading on the analog meter. I 
could then measure the source current and voltage and accurately calc the 
power required. Pretty simple technique that John C. taught me. If the 
lamps are too bright, it's easy enough to filter the light for a nice 
centered deflection. Note, calibration isn't required because of the DC 
source technique takes care of that.

What you mentioned sounds similar, so thought I'd shoot that out there. Oh, 
should you use 500W halogens in an enclosure, you'll need to mount a fan to 
keep it cool. I used 500W hologen lamps on my test as well (the box got 
pretty hot). The reason fo the enclosure was to prevent light from any 
other source.

Take care,
Bart

Tesla list wrote:

>Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau-at-hp-dot-com>
>One thing on my to-do list is to determine the capacitor size that will
>pull the highest power from an NST.  Years ago it was assumed to be the
>mains-resonant value, and it now appears that an LTR value is best, but
>exactly how much LTR is unclear.  I had performed some simulations, but
>I think these may be flawed in that they don't take into account shunt
>saturation.
>
>What I was planning was to replace the primary with a series bank of
>three tubular 500W halogen lamps (suitable for a 15/60 NST), as a dummy
>load.  This way you don't have to worry about maintaining pri-sec
>resonance, or about streamers lapping at you.  The power throughput may
>be accurately determined with a photo sensor, seeing how bright the
>lamps are.  Plot lamp brightness against cap size and gap width.
>
>Regards, Gary Lau
>MA, USA
>
>
>Original poster: dhmccauley-at-spacecatlighting-dot-com
>
>Just curious to get a list of some of the open high voltage / tesla coil
>research topics that we would like to see explored etc...
>
>Instead of just building some coils for fun, I'd like to narrow in on a
>particular problem / topic and do some serious research on it.
>However, I realize that quite of bit of research has already been done
>within the realm of tesla coil systems, so i am asking the group
>if anyone knows of any particular areas which may be research worthy and
>hasn't been done to death already.
>
>Thanks
>
>Dan
>
>
>
>