Re: DC power on Tesla secondary (was 20 joules at 100 bps vs 4 joules at 500 bps)

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Original poster: Steve Conner <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx>



> A Gerret +P 44 caliber magnum round (about the max any normal human 
> would fire from a hand gun) is about 2000 joules.

I hope this is not too off-topic, but is that kinetic energy of the 
bullet? chemical energy in the propellant? or what?

The biggest bang I ever got (apart from that time I snipped through a 
live 240v extension cord with wire cutters) was when my old DRSSTC 
blew up. When an IGBT shorts out, it causes a huge shoot-through that 
makes the other device in that arm fail short too. Then the DC link 
capacitor bank discharges through both devices, vaporising them and 
scattering pieces all around the shop.

My setup had a "Rupture energy" of only about 200J but it still 
scared the heck out of me and the spectators. It was sparking away 
great style and the next second its innards were strewn around the 
floor with a huge flash and bang! I found pieces of transistor about 20ft away.

Larger coils, like industrial motor drives and traction inverters, 
can have rupture energies comparable to the rounds of ammunition 
Terry was talking about. But I've never seen an electronic engineer 
working on one live with a flak jacket! I guess they are designed 
_not_ to launch sharp pieces of metal at supersonic velocities.

Steve Conner