Re: Super Small SSTC

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

Original poster: "Sean Taylor" <sstaylor-at-uiuc.edu> 

Jim,
You're presenting your opinion as fact.  I would argue that in a strict
sense a Tesla coil (as it bears the creators name) is what we think of a
conventional spark gap coil - a transformer charges a capacitor which
discharges into an inductor which is coupled to a second coil.  The
ringdown of the primary circuit one of the defining qualites of a Tesla
coil, IMO.  Just because we are driving an air cored coil at resonance
creating a high voltage output doesn't make it a Tesla coil, it may
provide similar functions as a Tesla coil, but just because the results
are the same doesn't mean they are the same thing.  My point really is
that there isn't a solid definition of a Tesla coil.

As for ISSTCs, they do have a resonant primary, but it's operations isn't
pulse discharge driven - it actually functions more like a SGTC reversed
in time - start with small magnitude and add more energy so the amplitude
builds.  I don't know that there's a particular classification for any
type of coil, but you can make an argument for categorization either way.

Sean Taylor
Urbana, IL

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 16:28:21 -0600, Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:

>Original poster: "Jim Mitchell" <Electrontube-at-sbcglobal-dot-net> That's not
>true,  SSTCs are INDEED Tesla coils.  They are air cored resonant
>transformers which produce an electrical discharge.
>
>The new generations of SSTCs also HAVE tank capacitors,  so how would you
>classify those?
>
>Regards - Jim Mitchell
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 10:02 AM
>Subject: Re: Super Small SSTC
>
>
>  > Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmdq-at-uol-dot-com.br>
>  >
>  > Tesla list wrote:
>  >  >
>  >  > Original poster: FIFTYGUY-at-aol-dot-com
>  >
>  >  >      And how is that different from a Tesla Magnifier? Does the RF
>power
>  >  > source have to be an inductively-coupled resonant circuit to make
>a TC
>a TC?
>  >  > Wouldn't that exclude some simple SSTC's?
>  >
>  > A magnifier is a Tesla coil with a third coil connected between the
>  > top of the secondary coil and the capacitive terminal. It's a
>  > capacitor-discharge system, as a Tesla coil.
>  > "SSTCs" are -not- Tesla coils, although Tesla tried some experiments
>  > in this direction too, the systems are similar, and the name can be
>  > extended, as long as we know about what we are talking.
>  >
>  >  >      So what *IS* the exact definition of a Tesla Coil these days?
>  >  >      If I was to arbitrarily define a TC as:
>  >  >
>  >  >      "A device designed to produce high-voltage alternating-current
>  > discharges
>  >  > from a low-voltage power source by exciting the resonant mode of
>the
>output
>  >  > stage,"
>  >  >
>  >  >      that includes every topology I can think of. Including
>flybacks
>(if
>  > they
>  >  > are used to make sparks).
>  >
>  > A Tesla coil is, precisely, only the system composed of a transformer
>  > with
>  > capacitive loads at both sides, that transfers energy initially stored
>  > in
>  > the primary capacitor to the secondary capacitance.
>  > "Flybacks" are closer relatives to "induction coils", where the
>initial
>  > energy is stored in the primary inductor. Also, these systems are
>  > usually
>  > designed without regard to the resonances of the system, although they
>  > can be designed to operate in multiple resonance mode too.
>  >
>  > SSTCs and other similar devices that use active elements to drive a
>  > resonant circuit are closer relatives to CW radio transmitters.
>  >
>  > Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz
>  >
>  >
>  >
>