Re: Reflections in Power Transfer

To: tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Reflections in Power Transfer
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Thu, 08 May 1997 01:10:20 -0500
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

Subject:      Re: Reflections in Power Transfer
       Date:  Thu, 8 May 1997 11:39:43 +1200
       From:  Malcolm Watts" <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
Organization: Wellington Polytechnic, NZ
         To:  tesla-at-pupman-dot-com


Hi all,
        An addendum to my note on this:

     I was pondering the fact that we never see the secondary 
ringdown in just a cycle or less when loaded by spark. That means
that no matter what the V/I ratio in the spark, it never equals Zo of 
the secondary.
     Turns out the answer is blindingly obvious: We know that a spark 
is a non-linear resistance. Matching to Zo requires an ordinary 
resistance. Therefore, a proper match never occurs, regardless of the 
V/I content of the spark (which changes wrt time anyway). Whether this 
helps or hinders the quality of the spark is difficult to tell. It 
does allow several cycles of ring where only one might exist (which 
may serve to assist streamer formation over a period of time. On the 
other hand, full energy never finds its way into the discharge in just 
one cycle or part thereof.
     In some early expts, I tested this matching theory using 
ordinary resisive loading and found that within the limits of the 
admittedly crude experiment, a match is indeed arrived at using R = 
Zo as a termination.

Malcolm