[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [TCML] Newbie question - Where does all the energy go?
It's probably just not resonant. Keep tuning it, eventually you'll find the
sweet spot.
-gren
On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:25 PM, Peter Sutter <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hello Coilers,
>
> I finally finished my first coil and I am trying to produce some sparks.
> This seems not to work.
>
> Initial powering up the coil produced some massive, noisy sparking between
> the primary and the bottom winding of the secondary, and some racing
> sparks. Coupling factor .138 according to Javatc.
>
> Lifting the secondary coil by 20 mm fixed this problem, coupling factor is
> now .120 according to Javatc.
>
> Powering up the coil with a breakout point on the toroid produces a very
> weak spark of about 25 cm (10 inches), with very little noise. The spark is
> lacking in energy, it is barely noticeable in the dark. However there seems
> to be a 'sweet spot' on the primary coil between 14 3/4 and 14 7/8 turns,
> where the weak spark reaches its maximum length and intensity. JavaTC
> suggests the tap at 15.08 Turns. There is no noticeable corona effect on
> the toroid. So the coil appears to be tuned. Very very rarely, the safety
> gap fires briefly.
>
> It looks as if something is absorbing the energy, like e.g. a short
> circuit winding. After several minutes running, there is no noticeable
> warming of any of the components. The capacitors stay cool. The spark gap
> becomes about hand warm.
>
> I used no metal fasteners, washers, nuts etc. in the construction of the
> coil, to avoid any possible short circuit windings, these are all plastic.
> There is a strike rail 6 cm above the primary, which has a 5 mm gap. The
> base of the coil is made up of plywood and acrylic plastic.
>
> The transformer is a 12KV 30 ma NST, make F.A.R.T. The center of the
> secondary is on ground. This ground is not connected to the mains ground,
> but to RF ground. (1.2 m of 1 inch copper pipe in the ground, also
> connected to the center of the safety gap and the strike rail).
>
> The primary is 1/2 inch copper tube as used in refrigeration.
>
> The capacitors are homemade, three liquid paraffin filled tubes of
> approximately 60 nF each in series giving 18.1 nF in total.
>
> The spark gap consists of 8 pieces of 1 inch round copper pipe, the
> segments are spaced .7 mm apart for a total spark gap length of .5 cm.
>
> The secondary form is a piece of 160mm outside diameter high pressure
> water pipe as used by the shire, it is a white plastic, the windings are
> coated with polyurethane varnish.
>
> The Top Load is a toroid, lesser diameter 10 cm, outer diameter 36 cm. It
> is made of Dryer Ducting, where the gaps between the 'fins' has been filled
> with wood filler. The resulting toroid was sanded and covered with
> Aluminium tape. This is the only part on the coil that could form a 'short
> circuit' winding.
>
> What do I try next?
>
> Many thanks for your hints and suggestions.
>
>
> Peter
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
>
> Here are the details of the coil
>
> J A V A T C version 12.5 - CONSOLIDATED OUTPUT
> Fri 20 Apr 2012 08:55:16 AM WST
>
> Units = Centimeters
> Ambient Temp = 25°C
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Surrounding Inputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> 254 = Ground Plane Radius
> 254 = Wall Radius
> 381 = Ceiling Height
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Secondary Coil Inputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Current Profile = G.PROFILE_LOADED
> 8.1 = Radius 1
> 8.1 = Radius 2
> 6 = Height 1
> 93.5 = Height 2
> 1750 = Turns
> 0.05 = Wire Diameter
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Primary Coil Inputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Round Primary Conductor
> 9 = Radius 1
> 37.678 = Radius 2
> 6.7 = Height 1
> 6.7 = Height 2
> 15.0541 = Turns
> 1.27 = Wire Diameter
> 0 = Ribbon Width
> 0 = Ribbon Thickness
> 0.0181 = Primary Cap (uF)
> 76.2 = Total Lead Length
> 0.508 = Lead Diameter
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Top Load Inputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Toroid #1: minor=10, major=36, height=103, topload
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Secondary Outputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> 120.27 kHz = Secondary Resonant Frequency
> 90 deg° = Angle of Secondary
> 87.5 cm = Length of Winding
> 20 cm = Turns Per Unit
> 0 mm = Space Between Turns (edge to edge)
> 890.64 m = Length of Wire
> 5.4:1 = H/D Aspect Ratio
> 79.0925 Ohms = DC Resistance
> 55756 Ohms = Reactance at Resonance
> 1.555 kg = Weight of Wire
> 73.783 mH = Les-Effective Series Inductance
> 84.483 mH = Lee-Equivalent Energy Inductance
> 84.811 mH = Ldc-Low Frequency Inductance
> 23.734 pF = Ces-Effective Shunt Capacitance
> 20.728 pF = Cee-Equivalent Energy Capacitance
> 48.802 pF = Cdc-Low Frequency Capacitance
> 0.2024 mm = Skin Depth
> 12.677 pF = Topload Effective Capacitance
> 194.7943 Ohms = Effective AC Resistance
> 286 = Q
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Primary Outputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> 120.27 kHz = Primary Resonant Frequency
> 0 % = Percent Detuned
> 0 deg° = Angle of Primary
> 2207.59 cm = Length of Wire
> 3.06 mOhms = DC Resistance
> 0.635 cm = Average spacing between turns (edge to edge)
> 0.24 cm = Proximity between coils
> 3.09 cm = Recommended minimum proximity between coils
> 96.345 µH = Ldc-Low Frequency Inductance
> 0.01809 µF = Cap size needed with Primary L (reference)
> 0.861 µH = Lead Length Inductance
> 390.991 µH = Lm-Mutual Inductance
> 0.137 k = Coupling Coefficient
> 0.136 k = Recommended Coupling Coefficient
> 7.3 = Number of half cycles for energy transfer at K
> 29.99 µs = Time for total energy transfer (ideal quench time)
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Transformer Inputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> 240 [volts] = Transformer Rated Input Voltage
> 12000 [volts] = Transformer Rated Output Voltage
> 30 [mA] = Transformer Rated Output Current
> 50 [Hz] = Mains Frequency
> 240 [volts] = Transformer Applied Voltage
> 0 [amps] = Transformer Ballast Current
> 0 [ohms] = Measured Primary Resistance
> 0 [ohms] = Measured Secondary Resistance
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Transformer Outputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> 360 [volt*amps] = Rated Transformer VA
> 400000 [ohms] = Transformer Impedence
> 12000 [rms volts] = Effective Output Voltage
> 1.5 [rms amps] = Effective Transformer Primary Current
> 0.03 [rms amps] = Effective Transformer Secondary Current
> 360 [volt*amps] = Effective Input VA
> 0.008 [uF] = Resonant Cap Size
> 0.0119 [uF] = Static gap LTR Cap Size
> 0.0207 [uF] = SRSG LTR Cap Size
> 20 [uF] = Power Factor Cap Size
> 16971 [peak volts] = Voltage Across Cap
> 42426 [peak volts] = Recommended Cap Voltage Rating
> 2.61 [joules] = Primary Cap Energy
> 233.1 [peak amps] = Primary Instantaneous Current
> 77.8 [cm] = Spark Length (JF equation using Resonance Research Corp.
> factors)
> 89.1 [peak amps] = Sec Base Current
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Static Spark Gap Inputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> 8 = Number of Electrodes
> 2 [cm] = Electrode Diameter
> 0.5 [cm] = Total Gap Spacing
>
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> Static Spark Gap Outputs:
> ------------------------------**----------------------
> 0.071 [cm] = Gap Spacing Between Each Electrode
> 16971 [peak volts] = Charging Voltage
> 15271 [peak volts] = Arc Voltage
> 35899 [volts] = Voltage Gradient at Electrode
> 30542 [volts/cm] = Arc Voltage per unit
> 90 [%] = Percent Cp Charged When Gap Fires
> 39.276 [ms] = Time To Arc Voltage
> 25 [BPS] = Breaks Per Second
> 2.11 [joules] = Effective Cap Energy
> 451260 [peak volts] = Terminal Voltage
> 54 [power] = Energy Across Gap
> 63.9 [cm] = Static Gap Spark Length (using energy equation)
>
>
> ______________________________**_________________
> Tesla mailing list
> Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.pupman.com/mailman/**listinfo/tesla<http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla>
>
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla