RE: Magnifying Tesla Coils

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Qndre Qndre" <qndre_encrypt@xxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Sebbie,

a "magnifier" is a resonant transformer which is built the same way 
as Nikolai Tesla did as he tried to distribute electrical power using 
his "Wardenclyffe" transmitter. It consists of a driver circuit and a 
resonator circuit connected using a transmission line. The driver 
circuit looks the same way as a pulsed tesla coil does: A capacitor 
with a high capacitance is charged to a high voltage until a spark 
gap brakes down and connects it to a coil with low inductance. This 
circuit then oscillates causing a "secondary circuit" which consists 
of a coil with a big inductance and a very small capacitance to go 
into resonant rise resulting in a high voltage output at a high 
frequency just like a normal tesla coil.

To get a magnifier, you have to chose a topload with a very high 
breakdown voltage for your secondary so you have no streamers going 
into the air because they only represent energy loss in this place. 
The secondary is not the place where the discharges will take place. 
You connect a wire to the topload of this coil. The other end of the 
wire is connected to a tertiary coil called the "extra coil". It 
forms the second big part of a magnifier, the resonator, while the 
classic tesla coil (which won't emit streamers because of the big 
topload) acts only as a driver for the resonator. The other end of 
the tertiary (the one not connected to the topload of the secondary) 
has a topload placed on it which has a breakdown voltage causing 
streamers into the air.

The calculation and tuning of a magnifier will be much more 
complicated compared to the calculation of a conventional tesla coil 
because you will have to have three coils and several capacitances 
all operating on the same resonant frequency in order to get the best 
possible output.

I hope this will help you a bit.

Regards, Q.

PS: This is a website about the calculation and simulation of such a 
circuit. It seems to be very complicated: 
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/magnifier.html

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Magnifying Tesla Coils
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:17:47 -0700
Original poster: "Sebastian Fischetti" <QuantumStrings@xxxxxxx>

Hey,
    I'm a high school senior, and I'm currently working on a 
1.5'-tall tesla coil for fun.  While surfing the web for info on 
tesla coils, I noticed that 
<http://www.tesla-coil.com>www.tesla-coil.com mentions a magnifying 
tesla coil.  However, no theory of operation is included.  I tried to 
google up more information, but I couldn't find anything else on the 
topic, except for the additional blurb on Tesla biographies.  So, 
would anyone care to take the time to explain to me the theory behind 
magnifying tesla coils, and how they're constructed?  Thanks a bunch!

-Sebbie