Re: [TCML] 60/50Hz Tesla Coil? - Non disruptive

[Steve Ward <steve.ward@xxxxxxxxx>]

The only benefit i see to transient mode operation is for making long sparks
with relative ease.  Other than that, it would seem to me that the main
reason for tesla coils being transient machines is that spark gaps were the
only type of switch that would work.  In the real world of engineering, we
have a plethora of switches available to us, and tesla coilers have made use
of them... vacuum tubes, thyratrons, SCRs, MOSFETs, BJTs, IGBTs, possibly
others.  Spark gaps just happen to be exceptionally easy to make work, and
thats perfectly ok if thats what the design needs.

Many SSTCs are essentially driven by a high frequency voltage source, so if
our mains frequency happened to be 10's of KHz, then it would be perfectly
viable to plug your TC primary straight in, provided you designed the
primary such that you limited the current draw via proper impedance matching
to the streamer (not a hard thing to do).

Steve


Some of the benefits of storing energy over a long period and discharging it
> over a short period of time is the ability to harness the effects of massive
> peak currents (and the resultant magnetic fields that help to couple the
> primary and secondary together over large distances) and the massive peak
> energy levels which result in large streamers becoming visible. - this can
> result in peak powers of several MEGAWATTS
>
> now the mains is often not capable of providing thousands or even hundreds
> of amps - and even more so especially when the voltage is stepped up through
> a transformer this becomes practically impossible unless you own a power
> station.
>
> Hence this is one reason we use capacitors.....
> the reason we don't use 50 hz is because of physical size restraints and
> budgets.
> but basically IT WOULDN'T MATTER WHAT FREQUENCY THE MAINS WAS - we would
> NEVER PLUG A TESLA COIL DIRECTLY INTO THE MAINS - because we would lose the
> defining features of a Tesla coil. Even if we tuned it to 50 hz, it would
> only resonate at this frequency and would still not function as a disruptive
> discharge coil displaying the effects we associate with Tesla coils.
>
> stephen
>
> Greg Morris wrote:
>
>> So I just built my first solid state coil this year, and in thinking about
>> the nature of primary circuit driving, I got wondering, wouldn't it be
>> possible to design a Tesla Coil in which the secondary resonated at (or
>> near) 60/50Hz? The primary coil could be plugged directed into the wall
>> with
>> no need for any driving circuitry, save for maybe a reactor to limit the
>> current.
>>
>> Thoughts? Has anyone tried this?
>>
>> Cheers!
>> Greg
>>
>>
>>
>
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