Re: [TCML] spark models

[Steve Ward <steve.ward@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim,

I have great interest in this topic, but so far all I've managed to do is
come up with more questions.  Some current questions are:

1) What impact does resonant frequency play?  I think this must relate to
some basic principles about spark growth and basically the resonant
frequency plays a role in how often the leader gets a new "kick" which i
would suspect plays a big role (well, because my testing says so).  Id guess
that there's probably an issue with displacement current through the
streamer's capacitance, my guess would be that higher frequency could be
more beneficial in that it would keep more current circulating through the
spark channel and keep it hot.  I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

2) What is the difference between spark growth behavior on a "transient"
coil vs something like my quasi-CW system (which in my opinion is much
easier to do studies on)?  Pics can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kickermagnet/

It seems that any good streamer model would also factor in things that
effect the conductivity of the air, that is, how long ago was it recently
ionized or heated up, and how long does it take for the ions to recombine or
for the temperature to come down.

Im considering how i might be able to rig up a cheap(er) USB oscilloscope
(or some other data acquisition) to the topload of the coil so that i can
measure current between toroid and secondary, and current out of the
breakout point.  Looked into USB-fiber optic converters, they are pricey...
hoping i might be able to make my own if i can get fast enough fiber-optic
parts.

Any other suggestions on how you could measure these currents?  I seem to
recall terry fritz had some fiber optic probes, but i was really not sure
how that worked, and they also looked to be really expensive and probably
finicky if i had to guess.  The direct approach would be nice, of course.
Ive already considered crude options like a LED bar graph that would read
back the peak current value, and of course tell me nothing about the
wave-shape.  Could also make my own low quality data acq with some
micro-controller or something, which honestly might be just as useful unless
i have some other solution with really high bandwidth.

Steve

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 7:08 PM, Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I've written a short description and drawn a few diagrams of some
> directions for future spark modeling.  Comments welcome.
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlux/hv/tcsparkmodel.htm
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