RE: saturable reactor vs choke

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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

Hi Kevin,

the inductance of a saturable reactor can be controlled by having 
direct current flowing through it's control winding(s). When the 
field generated by the control winding(s) is large enough to prevent 
the core from absorbing any stronger field than the one which is 
already present due to the current in the control winding, the coil's 
inductance will drop dramatically since an increase of current 
through the main winding does not result in change of magnetic flux any more.

A choke is simply a coil with one winding which presents a fixed 
inductance and therefore a fixed reactance (if frequency is fixed as 
well). Of course you can change the inductance of the coil by 
mechanically driving a magnetic core into/out of the coil (e.g. using 
a servo motor) but you cannot directly change it by simply applying a 
control current as you can with the saturable reactor.

Regards, Q.

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: saturable reactor vs choke
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:10:24 -0600

Original poster: "MakingLightning" <MakingLightning@xxxxxxxxxxx>

What is the difference between a saturable reactor and a choke?

What are the plusses and minuses of each?

Which would be better for controlling current on a tesla coil?

Kevin