Re: Big Primaries, Small Caps

["Christopher Boden" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Would this mean that by twiddleing a bit more copper (say going from 15 up 
to 30 turns) I can save serious money on my MMC AND have LONGER streamers to 
boot?


This is too easy, what's the catch?

Chris B.





>Original poster: Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>
>
>Hi Greg,
>
>	As you lower the primary inductance, the primary current increases.
>Assuming the loss in the gap is proportional to I^2R, the higher current
>burns off the energy as heat more in a low inductance primary then a high
>inductance one.  Low inductance primary circuits have to be made well to
>minimize the loss and handle the higher current.  Large inductance
>primaries can get away with much lossier construction.
>
>As I look at coils with very large primary caps, the primary inductance
>tends to be very small.  This creates very high currents and giant losses
>that can eat a coil's power vastly reducing the power to the arc.  It is
>sort of a balancing act between more stored energy on the primary cap and
>greater losses due to low primary inductance and high primary current 
>losses.
>
>Cheers,
>
>	Terry
>
>
>
>At 12:24 PM 8/31/00 -0400, you wrote:
> >Dear List,
> >
> >I'm curious about Tesla coils with large primaries and small tank caps.
> >John Freau and others have articulated numerous times over the years that
> >coils so designed have lower gap losses and longer sparks relative to 
>coils
> >using big tank caps and few primary turns.  I'm curious as to why this is
> >so.  It seems to me that the bigger bang size delivered by a larger cap
> >would thump the secondary harder, yielding longer sparks.
> >
> >Can someone in the know provide an explanation?  I'm not an engineer, but 
>I
> >am an experienced comm/nav technician, so I can grasp pretty deep 
>concepts.
> > However, a side trip into Calculus land will lose me pretty quickly.
> >
> >Best Regards,
> >
> >Gregory R. Hunter
> >
>
>

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