Re: ALF prototype work, RTC tests

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

Original poster: "Greg Leyh" <lod-at-pacbell-dot-net> 

Original poster: "Steve Conner" <steve.conner-at-optosci-dot-com>


> >However, the most satisfying bit came from testing the 'secondary energy
>  >recovery' concept, that I mentioned briefly a while back in this post:
>
>Again this is very interesting. If I set the controls on the OLTC II "right"
>I could achieve energy recovery, but I didn't actually want it as it
>interfered with my resonant charging. Anyway I agree that the energy
>recovery concept is usable since I've seen it happen.

Indeed, the fact that resonant charging cannot work with energy recovery is
one of its drawbacks.  A more direct capacitor charging scheme is required.


>  >In a standard TC, this remaining unusable energy
>  >would remain trapped in the secondary, eventually ringing down to zero
>
>I found the streamer generation in my OLTC II worked very well and left
>practically no energy in the secondary. Maybe Electrum and ALF behave
>differently because of their sheer size. I have heard it said that a spark
>is fully formed in about 300us, so I guess it makes sense to start energy
>recovery if there is any left after 300us.
>
>But mine was all gone in 100us :(


It remains to be seen just how much useable energy can be practically
recovered
from a firing Tesla Coil.  I'm sure that this will be a highly dynamic
quantity, depending
on arc length, earth grounding and probably even wind and humidity.

-GL