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light bulbs
>> Here's a "Light Bulb Experiment" and toroid-ground discharge update:
>> Further measurements with a storage scope showed that each
>> toroid-to-ground discharge removed virtually ALL of the energy in the
>> Primary/Secondary system in a very short time. There was no further
>> ringdown, or any other activity until the next "bang". Each discharge
>> occurred near the first peak of secondary voltage (i.e., during the
>> first energy transfer/"Bang"). Each high-current discharge actually
>> consisted of an exponentially damped 10-20 MHz current, with virtually
>> all of the energy being dissipated in about 1.5 uSec. At full power, the
>> primary gaps fire 3 to 4 times every half cycle, or between 360 and 480
>> PPS. For analysis purposes, an average rate of 420 PPS will be used.
>> Using 420 PPS, with each toroid-ground current surge lasting only 1.5
>> uSec, the total time "ON" time per second is about 420 x 1.5 uSec or 630
>> uSec, implying a duty cycle of only about 0.063%. The toroid-ground
>> current peaks which would have to flow to "average" 400 MA can now be
>> estimated: Isurge=(0.400)/(630x1e-6) or about 635 Amps(!). However,
>> since the actual current surges are exponentially decaying during each
>> 1.5 uSec shot, the actual current peaks are probably significantly
>> greater than 1000 Amps(!).
>This is neat stuff but I think one more measurement needs to be made. I
>have a major problem in believing that the filament will actually take a
>1000 amp pulse. I think a controlled test dumping a 1000 amp pulse of
>the prescribed 1.5 usec pulse duration thru the lamp to see if the lamp
>will actually live would help to bolster your conclusions.
I suspect it will. Its an averaging thing. The filament is fairly
massive, and just soaks up the jolt. The average is shown, at 400 ma.
(Yes. There are things called exploding wires. They use MUCH higher
currents.)
regards
dwp