Hi Chris,
Chris Swinson wrote:
Hi all,
I was looking at http://www.richieburnett.co.uk/wavefrms.html real
waveforms...
looking at the discharge waveforms. The spark has arced to ground and
killed all the voltage even before it gets to the first notch. So if the
coil arcs on the first ring up cycle then all the RSG times and notches
are meaningless really ?
Kind of yes. An arc to ground allowed all the energy to transfer in the
first 1/2 cycle (a few microseconds). It's all over but the shouting!
It looks like the voltage just ramps up to maximum then arcs to ground,
that's it..
Yes, but the energy transfer is still performing it's function until all
the energy in the cap is dumped.
though looking at the previous waveforms, Richie has the 3rd notch as the
quench time. There is no spark output so the energy is just trapped until
(for what ever reason) the spark gap turns off at the 3rd notch.
No, there is output. It's in the form of a moderate lower power corona off
the toroid and these are in single shot mode to specifically demonstrate
quenching. The gap continued conducting until the energy had been used up
in the corona, secondary, and spark gap. Also realize these are
"secondary" waveforms, so the peaks indicate the primary side notches. But
yes, 3rd notch quenching in this case. No different than sparking into the
air in your garage.
To me it looks like the notches are not important if the spark has output
long before anyways....
I would not draw that conclusion. There was corona during the event. The
notches are an indication of energy consumed over time. There will be no
repeatability until enough energy has been consumed and allows the gap to
stop conducting. The longer the energy is stored in the system, the
greater the losses will be from bang to bang due to gap losses, secondary
losses, and spark output drain. Less transfer losses means more energy in
spark output. Sparks to objects will drain the system and allow 1st notch
quenching as the output then has a low impedance path and will suck up all
the energy stored in the secondary and topload.
Take care,
Bart