[TCML] Was Primary Grounding now RF gnd Center ball safety gap

[BunnyKiller <bunnikillr@xxxxxxx>]

Hey all...

Been reading this thread and began to think about the primary strike and 
grounded guard ring. Considering that the secondary is developing in 
excess of 500KV on larger coils along with occasional strikes to the 
primary, I can understand the failure of a primary circuit ( tank 
capacitor) system, especially if the primary circuit has no available 
grounding available in it.  I have had on my system, more than I would 
like to have,  primary hits from the secondary...  BUT what is 
coincidental, the center ball of my safety gap is grounded to the RF 
ground. I did this in such a manner to help protect either side of the 
piggies output from over voltage. If either side of the piggie does go 
over voltage, it will arc to the center ball of the safety gap to RF 
ground. I have no idea if this a feasible system, but it sure sounds 
good in theory!

Some of us on the list have a feeling that "grounded guard rings" 
attracts the streamers towards the primary, thus increasing the 
potential to hit the primary. I on the other hand feel that this isn't 
true in all cases. I have run the BIGPIG system with and without the 
"guard ring" and it seems to have the same number of "primary" proximity 
hits either way. This may be due to the physical parameters of my coil ( 
large toroid and semi short secondary)  predisposing the EM field to 
"aim" the streamers toward the primary. But, when the "guard ring" is 
active ( attached to RF ground), the strikes are consistently to the 
ring instead of the primary.

In retrospect, having an RF grounded center ball in the safety gap seems 
to be able to allow voltage spikes from the secondary during a primary 
hit to "safely" seek a path of "lower resistance" ( basically through 
the air gap instead of the dielectric and oil of the cap) instead of 
trying to produce a short in the cap and then through the secondary of 
the hi volt supply to the hi volt transformers core or case.
BTW the safety gap is parallel to the piggies output....

For those of you more inclined towards  Electrical Engineering  
applications with the real experience, I would like to know if my 
application of the RF grounded safety gap center ball is actually doing 
what I think it should be accomplishing.

Scot D



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