plagued by all sorts of jamming, heating, scorching, warping, and "quenching" problems). As there is no spark, "quenching" is a misnomer (except for residual spark before and after contact, which is minimized but probably not entirely prevented by oil) but I will still have to figure a way to prevent it from dumping too much energy, which it will do incredibly fast, as it is conducting through metal, instead of an arc! Perhaps adding resistance, or a current limiting inductor on either side of the gap, but that may waste some energy, defeating the whole purpose
Scott, A low resistance switch is highly desireable because it will reduce losses in a Tesla coil system. No special ballasting or current limiting will be needed. The rate of energy transfer depends highly on the coupling between the primary and secondary. The rate of energy transfer is only slightly affected by the resistance of the switch, within the range of resistances that we're speaking of. Also, an arc has a rather low resistance. Another problem you may see is that quenching may actually be worse. This is because the metal to metal contact may actually delay quenching during the time the metal is in contact. Depending on the coupling, frequency, mechanical dwell-time, capacitor value, etc, the gap may re-fire (fire twice) while the metal is in contact. This would cause very high overall losses and inefficient operation. By all means build the device and report to us how it works. John **************************************See what's free at http://www.aol.com.