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Re: TC Electrostatics (fwd)



> > Tesla List wrote:

> > What do you see as the optimum value for Zo (Zo = sqrt[L/C])?  I used to
> > think that something around 20,000 ohms was optimum, but now I'm starting
> > to think that values closer to 35,000 ohms might be better.
> >
> > -GL
> 
> I really don't have a good feel for this one, since my experience has
> only been with relatively high-Zo coils. Does the 35,000 ohm value come
> from the empirical data you've gathered on other coils?
>
>  -- Bert --


The 35K value comes partly from digesting the data; Richard Hull's 'Nemesis',
which was a strong performer, had a Zo of over 40,000 ohms.  Sadly, I didn't
collect a lot of data -- I collected only 20 documented examples of operating 
coils, which I need to enter into a spreadsheet one of these days.

But the secondary current waveforms on my coil are an even stronger indication
that I should perhaps raise my secondary impedance.  Even with a full head of 
streamers, the sec current still takes 10 to 15 cycles to ring down, showing
that the Zo is far less than the working impedance of the ionized channels.

If the primary objective of a TC is that of an 'air incinerator', then it seems 
that only three quantities need to be optimized:

Power - more is always better.

Efficiency - less power lost in circuit components means more burning air.

Output Impedance - must be matched to the effective streamer impedance, in order 
                   to maximize the total power transfer to the air.

I maintain that any improvement made to a TC serves to optimize one or more
of these three quantities.

-GL