[TCML] 60/50Hz Tesla Coil? - Non disruptive

[Stephen Hiscock]

Steve Ward, I think you missed my point entirely - the capacitors are 
CHARGED over a long period of time and then DISCHARGED over a short 
period of time... hence the need for a "SWITCH" as you said...
If you had read my whole post you would have read that I did write:
"through a spark gap OR mechanical or electronic switching"
All the designed you mentioned have CAPACITORS in the circuit.

Steve ward also said "

Many SSTCs are essentially driven by a high frequency voltage source, so if
our mains frequency happened to be 10's of KHz, then it would be perfectly
viable to plug your TC primary straight in, provided you designed the
primary such that you limited the current draw via proper impedance matching
to the streamer (not a hard thing to do).

But the mains is NOT 10's of kilohertz its 50hz or 60hz.

Are you saying that there are Tesla coils that DON'T have capacitors 
that are DISCHARGED?
I would have thought that A Tesla Coil WITHOUT a primary capacitor 
DISCHARGING is NOT a TESLA Coil, its just a transformer!!!
Just my thoughts though!


Steve Ward wrote:
> The only benefit i see to transient mode operation is for making long sparks
> with relative ease.  Other than that, it would seem to me that the main
> reason for tesla coils being transient machines is that spark gaps were the
> only type of switch that would work.  In the real world of engineering, we
> have a plethora of switches available to us, and tesla coilers have made use
> of them... vacuum tubes, thyratrons, SCRs, MOSFETs, BJTs, IGBTs, possibly
> others.  Spark gaps just happen to be exceptionally easy to make work, and
> thats perfectly ok if thats what the design needs.
>
> Many SSTCs are essentially driven by a high frequency voltage source, so if
> our mains frequency happened to be 10's of KHz, then it would be perfectly
> viable to plug your TC primary straight in, provided you designed the
> primary such that you limited the current draw via proper impedance matching
> to the streamer (not a hard thing to do).
>
> Steve
>
>
> Some of the benefits of storing energy over a long period and discharging it
>   
>> over a short period of time is the ability to harness the effects of massive
>> peak currents (and the resultant magnetic fields that help to couple the
>> primary and secondary together over large distances) and the massive peak
>> energy levels which result in large streamers becoming visible. - this can
>> result in peak powers of several MEGAWATTS
>>
>> now the mains is often not capable of providing thousands or even hundreds
>> of amps - and even more so especially when the voltage is stepped up through
>> a transformer this becomes practically impossible unless you own a power
>> station.
>>
>> Hence this is one reason we use capacitors.....
>> the reason we don't use 50 hz is because of physical size restraints and
>> budgets.
>> but basically IT WOULDN'T MATTER WHAT FREQUENCY THE MAINS WAS - we would
>> NEVER PLUG A TESLA COIL DIRECTLY INTO THE MAINS - because we would lose the
>> defining features of a Tesla coil. Even if we tuned it to 50 hz, it would
>> only resonate at this frequency and would still not function as a disruptive
>> discharge coil displaying the effects we associate with Tesla coils.
>>
>> stephen
>>
>> Greg Morris wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> So I just built my first solid state coil this year, and in thinking about
>>> the nature of primary circuit driving, I got wondering, wouldn't it be
>>> possible to design a Tesla Coil in which the secondary resonated at (or
>>> near) 60/50Hz? The primary coil could be plugged directed into the wall
>>> with
>>> no need for any driving circuitry, save for maybe a reactor to limit the
>>> current.
>>>
>>> Thoughts? Has anyone tried this?
>>>
>>> Cheers!
>>> Greg
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>       
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