[TCML] Tesla coil book in PDF

[bartb]

Hi Phil,

I don't think that your reading this out of context. Bps can certainly 
be higher due to cap charging and breakdown level. How stiff the supply 
is, cap value, breakdown voltage, inductive charging sequences, etc.. 
will affect the "real" bps (the gap can ionize multiple times during a 
charging half cycle).

A more accurate statement might be, "if breakdown occurs no more than 
once during a 1/2 cycle, max bps is limited to 2 x main freq". I 
personally have measured a higher than calculated.

So yeah, this particular quote is incorrect.

Take care,
Bart

Phil Tuck (hvtesla) wrote:
> Hello.
>
> I notice in the spark gap section it mentions that stationary spark gaps can
> only ever acheive 120bps (or 100 @50Hz)
>
> Page 211 on the section on stationary spark gaps mentions:-
>
> <quote>>>
> When using a stationary spark
> gap it is limited to a break rate of 120 BPS. Even if multiple series gaps
> are used in a stationary
> gap it will ionize only once as the positive and negative line alternations
> reach their peaks
> (60 Hz × 2 = 120). Higher break rates can often pump more energy into the
> secondary. This
> generally increases the secondary current but not the voltage so the sparks
> will be brighter
> but not longer. An undesirable side effect is that the coil will draw more
> power from the line
> without producing a longer spark. To obtain a break rate higher than 120 BPS
> a rotary gap
> must be used. For this reason the worksheet calculations were developed to
> be used with a
> rotary spark gap as it can be designed to exhibit selected operating
> characteristics, whereas
> the stationary gap has a fixed 120 BPS.
> <</end quote>
>
> Am I reading this out of context ? He seems to clearly be referring to
> static gaps in general.  I have only skimmed through so far as it seems more
> of a 'reference' work to look up applicable bits, rather than a 'sit down
> and read' book, but that caught my eye.
>
> Regards
> Phil
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tesla-bounces at pupman.com [mailto:tesla-bounces at pupman.com] On Behalf
> Of Chip Atkinson
> Sent: 16 October 2009 22:52
> To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [TCML] Tesla coil book in PDF
>
> Hi Dex,
>
> A while back I recieved a review copy of this book.  First off, I'd say
> that if you can legally grab it from that web site, go for it.  The price
> is reasonably decent and it should be a fairly fast download.
>
> In reading the book I was struck by the amazing amount of work that Mr.
> Tilbury must have put into the spread sheets to which he frequently
> refers.  However, since a large portion of my reading was done on the bus I
> was
> unable to take advantage of them, which I found rather frustrating.
>
> For the most part the book read like a giant users' guide for a large
> collection of spread sheets.  
>
> The section on metering I found fairly interesting and enlightening, but
> that
> was because I don't have much background in that.  
>
> Two sections kind of left me miffed -- first was capacitors.  There was
> virtually nothing on making your own, even the MMC variety.  I personally
> have
> had better luck with MMC caps than commercial ones.  Maybe because I over
> drove
> the commercial ones, but still, I was able to build an MMC for less than the
> commercial TC capacitor and it took quite a bit of punishment and hasn't
> shown
> any problems.
>
> The second was primary construction.  The technique suggested was to drill
> holes in the supports and thread the tubing for the primary through them.
> I've
> seen this done but man, talk about a wrestling match.  You'd think for as
> much
> effort as he put into the spread sheets, he'd have given more thought to the
> primary construction. 
>
> Ok, my final beef was with the curve fit equations.  Look on page 213 for an
> example.  y=11.798x**2+118.04x+2.5248  .  If you go to
> http://www.wolframalpha.com and enter 
> plot y=11.798x**2+118.04x+2.5248
> (Here's the URL:)
> http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot+y%3D11.798x**2%2B118.04x%2B2.5248
>
> you'll see a nice parabolic plot.  Similarly on p 223, you'll see a kind of
> crazy equation to fit the curve.  Sure, it fits the curve for the range
> specified, but once you get past that, the lines don't follow anything close
> to
> the anticipated trend.  I think it would be much better to just say
> something
> like y=133x, which would ultimately match the graph on p213 much more
> closely.  
>
> So if you're going to use the curve fit equations, you need to put a big ol'
> warning on them that says that the values only match for the range shown on
> the
> graph.  Otherwise people are going to want to go outside the bounds and the
> higher powers of X will overwhelm any coefficients of the lower powers of X.
>
> Despite its shortcomings, it's a good book for your shelf and is a good way 
> to get spread sheets to design a TC, but I wouldn't call it ultimate as in 
> the final word on TC design.
>
> Chip
>
>
> On Fri, 16 Oct 2009, Dex Dexter wrote:
>
>   
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Book written by Mitch Tilbury in PDF form:
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.conspiration.cc/energie/tesla_coil_design.pdf
>>
>> What do you think of it ?
>> What are good and weak sides of it in your opinion?
>>
>>
>> Dex 
>>
>>
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