Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmdq@xxxxxxxxxx> Tesla list wrote:
No mechanical gap can force quenching by opening the gap in a normal Tesla coil. Quenching occurs while the electrodes are still aligned in most cases, simply because there is no energy in the primary to keep it conducting. Rotary gaps serve only to force the start of the energy-transfer cycle to occur at a certain point (or certain points) of the power line cycle, without need of adjusting gap distances to controlOriginal poster: "WESTLAND James C" <westland@xxxxxx> Antonio: Just another thought on TeslaSim. You've not included anything concerning rotary spark gaps in the program. Ideally, it's my understanding that the dwell time of the spark should be half of the duration initial envelope of the resulting energy transfer between primary and secondary. This generally seems to be faster than most synchronous rotary gaps that I've seen on the various sites can acheive, but my guess is that with changes to the tank circuits and geometry of the coil, you could extend (with very low coupling coefficients ... maybe 1% to 5% judging from your program's outputs) these into the range that a 3600 rpm motor with 12" disk could acheive. Any thoughts on this?
the firing instants by the voltage. They are also useful to keep the gap cool.The simulation in Teslasim looks only at what happens during the energy transfer, ignoring quenching and assuming a linear resistance in the gap. It assumes also a lumped model for the circuit. Simplifications, but with results very close to reality.
Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz