Re: [TCML] RE: Tesla Digest: BPS upper limit?

[Futuret <futuret@xxxxxxx>]

Etienne,

In many coils, as the break rate is increased, the power supply is
unable to charge the caps fully.  Thus as the break rate increases,
the bang size actually decreases.  This gives a very false impression
of what's happening.  The sparks may grow only slightly or not at all.
To properly judge the effect of break rate, one must be sure the caps
charge to the same voltage at both higher and lower break rates.
When this condition exists, the sparks will grow longer as the
break rate is increased, at least up to some point.  Low break rate
(around 120 bps) does seem to be more efficient for producing
long sparks however (for a given input power).  

To get the best from a magnifier, the coupling must be extremely
tight and the quench extremely fast.  Typical magnifier coils do not
quench fast enough to give this theoretical advantage.  Thus, typical
magnifiers work at about the same efficiency as typical classic
Tesla coils.  Because of limitations in the quenching, energy cannot
be trapped properly in the extra coil.  There was nothing particularly 
efficient about Nikola Tesla's magnifier.  

Basically from a practical design and construction standpoint,
if you have a smallish capacitor, then use a higher break rate to
get longest sparks.  If you have a larger capacitor, use a lower
break rate for the same spark length and maybe get by with
using a little less power input.  Basically using a small capacitor
for long sparks requires high break rate in order to get enough
power throughput, but it's a compromise situation.... you're
using higher break rate to get longer sparks in this case,
to *make up for* having a smaller than optimal capacitor 
size.  In this case the sparks will probably be somewhat
shorter for a given input power.  

The size of the capacitor versus the available input power is an
extremely important aspect of Tesla coil design.  If the
relationship between these two factors is not properly 
understood and accounted for, then one can easily come
to a great many mistaken conclusions.  Much of the
confusion in TC discussions over the years stems from
a lack of understanding of this relationship.  

DC powered coils which use a constant bang size are
very helpful for understanding these issues, when 
compared with typical TC designs.  

Cheers,
John

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Etienne Dreyer <chemistets@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Telsa Pupman <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Feb 8, 2012 9:43 pm
Subject: [TCML] RE: Tesla Digest: BPS upper limit?



Pardon my ignorance, but isn't there a point where the break rate is so high 
that the capacitors can't discharge fully before quenching occurs? It seems from 
your discussions that maximum energy can be delivered to the secondary when the 
break rate is highest, but shouldn't there be an upper limit coinciding with the 
peak of the charging waveform in the secondary? I mean, the maximum energy we 
can deliver to the sec. circuit will equal our input - and this will happen when 
our bps is highest possible? In other words, efficiency is directly proportional 
to bps?
Etienne Dreyer


 
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