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Re: MMC cap bank



Original poster: "Dr. Resonance by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <resonance-at-jvlnet-dot-com>

My info comes direct from Beau Meskin, Pres. of PCI in Chicago, who has
visited my lab and commented on the MMC project.  He said they would work
for a while but would ultimately fail due to excessive corona at the caps
edge plate surface.  He said the only way to prevent this from occuring is
to immerse them in oil, usually silicon oil, which is the way all of their
commercial caps are mfg.

His standard .01 and .02 MFD units are rated at 20 kV Erms and 60 kV DC peak
which represents a 3:1 ratio.  I know this ratio is not necessary for
average experimenters work but I was just pointing out a potential problem
with the experimenter running 14. 4 kV Erms on a 9 kV Erms bank.

Beau has been experimenting with RF caps since we were all knee high to a
grasshopper (or less) and is a very respected professional in this area.

PCI, CSI, and Maxwell all use silicone oil in their caps.  Short cuts would
only prove problamatic at a later date.  I know we can run the MMC hard but
we always use at least a 2:1 or 2.5 ratio of DC to AC to prevent problems.

And, it seems the problems usually occur right when you want to impress
someone --- Murphy's Law of course.

MMC's and Terry's work with them is terrific.  I only meant to point out
that failure would be a probable mode when operated as the poster posted on
the Tesla List.  Running at DC ratings in a non-oil cap just won't work for
extended periods of time.

I have seen the research but it can't be shared publically --- a sort of
"mfgr's secret".  And the big boys guard these well.

Dr. Resonance

Resonance Research Corporation
E11870 Shadylane Rd.
Baraboo   WI   53913

 > When the MMC Cap "thing" started a couple of years ago, nobody (not even
 > the manufacturers) knew enough about their caps to have a clue as to how
 > they could be rated to Tesla Coiling stresses. This problem was resolved
 > in
 > a collective effort right here on the list, with the majority of work
 > done by the moderator himself.
 > It was experimentally proven, that the producers voltage rating of the
 > caps was
 > very conservative, and that their DC rating could be used as the AC
 > rating
 > in Tesla coil service.