[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: The Tabletop Tesla Coil Showdown - OFFICIAL RULES and WEBSITE



Original poster: "John H. Couture by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <couturejh-at-mgte-dot-com>


Ha! Ha! Now we are talking about controlled (continuous) sparks vs the
random spark. This is something that I and other coilers have been
advocating for years. It is obvious that a random spark is not a resonable
way to rate a Tesla coil especially for a contest. There is no easy way to
determine the true watt seconds input for a random spark. However, it is a
simple setup for controlled sparks.

Even controlled sparks can be a problem with pole type and other non limited
current input transformers. This is because the currents are in surges with
Tesla coil operation and the short time currents can be much greater than
the nameplate rating of the transformer for a particular random spark.
Coilers with large coils seldom take this into consideration when talking
about the spark length and watts input of large coils. Removing the shunts
of even small transformers creates the same type of problem.

John Couture

-----------------------




-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2002 7:43 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: RE: The Tabletop Tesla Coil Showdown - OFFICIAL RULES and
WEBSITE


Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>

Such a scheme was not the intent for the competition, but it would be
interesting to see what is possible to achieve!

But, you raise a good point that should be specified.  The "normal" mode of
operation for a table top Tesla Coil is to produce what appears to be a
continuous discharge.  To be fair, I think we all have to operate in this
mode.  I don't want to try to specify a minimum BPS, especially since
that's a non-trivial measurement to make.  As long as each bang is close
enough to its predecessor that their streamers largely coincide.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

>Original poster: "tesla by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<tesla-at-paradise-dot-net.nz>
>
>Thought for consideration
>
>Is a minimum bang rate needed ??.
>
>The current thinking could easily result in a coil that feeds voltage
>multipliers and gives one giant bang every 30secs by accumulating the
>primary energy for very long periods
>Not a problem if this is what is wanted.
>Best
>Ted L in NZ