[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [TCML] How about some Tesla Coiling?
Hi Jeff, Derek, All,
You probably have seen the TV ads that say "Our product may PROMOTE
ABC health, or one in three people may develop XYZ ISSUES". Just vague enough
terminology that they can't be accused of false statements. (I think the
advertising industry may worship Tesla as much as the pseudoscience folks do.)
It has long been obvious that Tesla had a knack for "creative
advertising" with a flair for sensationalism. As you have shown in the correspondence
below, there are many different, but equally valid ways of defining average
power. This is a term which I suspect, but can never prove or disprove, Tesla
deliberately did not define in his lectures, expressly for dramatic effect.
Since we can never know for sure whether he measured joules per bang, or
joules per hour, or something in between, we can never know for sure if we have
duplicated his claimed performance. Of course, WE can agree on what WE mean by
average power, and build and evaluate coils of varying efficiencies using OUR
standard definition, but it cannot be related with any certainty to what
Tesla actually did. We can debate the terms until we end up in a morass of
"scripture-interpretation" because of the deliberate vagueness of the terminology
as he chose to use the language in the late 1800's.
Matt D.
Where is the description of the power and spark length in Tesla's
own words? Is it just possible [some will call this blasphemy] that he
may have exaggerated things just a bit?
Somewhere in Hotstreamer there are some pictures of my
Quadrac-driven spark coil using a pair of GMHEI ignition transformers in
oil. With 36 watts input [300 volts at 120 ma] it will give 5" sparks
although that's limited by the breakdown of the coils rather than the
available spark length. Same coil driven from a 12 volt battery through
a rather inefficient 12 volt to 300 volt DC/DC converter takes 5 amps
for the same output. I don't know whether a vibrator interrupt or
excited coil can do as well as a capacitor discharge
one.................................
Ed
In a message dated 2/15/08 11:07:56 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Jeff, all
I suspect it really depends on the average power, I could charge up some
large capacitors for a day at 5 W draw from the mains and then run a large TC
from them giving very large arcs for a second or so.
Is that classed as 5 W draw ?
DRSSTC's can easily be made to give 1 foot arcs in short 8uS (or so) bursts
which look continuous, average power is very small though
Even Classic Coils are not Continuous.
Maybe a 300Kv Marx fits this bill? Low power draw and 1 foot arcs.
I suspect the definition of this challenge needs to be more specific..
Cheers
Derek http://www.extremeelectronics.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of David Rieben
Sent: 15 February 2008 14:21
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: Re: [TCML] How about some Tesla Coiling?
Hi Jeff, all,
I wonder if the 30 watts vs 6" sparks claim was based on actual wall plug
power draw or was based on the total energy of primary C (in J or watt/sec)
discharge per bang x BPS, or possibly even just the energy per bang? I, for
one, would be highly suspect of a 6"
or 12" discharge claim from a mere 30 or 35 watts of actual wall plug power
consumption. Am I being overly pessimistic?
David
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Behary" <electrotherapy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 3:42 PM
Subject: [TCML] How about some Tesla Coiling?
Chip,
I have a challange for everyone, including me. In the early days, when
Tesla's coils were used for everyday attainable things, like powering an
X-Ray tube or lighting some Geissler tubes, there are a bunch of table top
models of machines like this:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2006/MiscOscillators/index.htm
In many texts, the smaller versions of these coils are described as making a
6" spark with 5 - 30 watts of input power. I think as a collective group of
enthusiasts we should work on something similar - something attainable, on
topic, and still requiring a fair amount of skill to accomplish. I am
willing to give space on my website for this topic, coil photos, etc. - I
think its a great opportunity to demonstrate the efficiency of some of the
modern circuits people are using to replace the kicking coil design Tesla
originally used.
(I can stick to the old designs because its all I know.)
There is a point when all of the "theory" arguments are "point-less" to a
certain extent. I have a firm belief that until we can at least replicate
the simple things Tesla did, and get it right, we have no reason to expect
we can accomplish greater things, if that makes sense.
30 watts, 6 inch sparks. To Tesla it was child's play, as these little
units seemed to litter the tables of his labs in so many photos. In the
1897 lecture he mentioned 12" with 35 watts of power, but maybe we can keep
it simple to start!
Jeff Behary
_________________________________________________________________
**************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy
Awards. Go to AOL Music.
(http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565)
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla