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Re: Bunch of stupid questions]




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>Calle Laakkonen wrote:

Calle,
        I don't see any stupid questions!! They all look like
good beefy questions to me! I will try to answer as best I can

>> 
>> Hi everyone !
>> I'm asking some basics but I really need to know more.
>> 
>> What is tank circuit ?

For the Tesla coil, I believe this to be the primary circuit
which consists of an inductor (the primary coil) and a
capacitance (the primary circuit capacitor). I could be 
flamed but I would say a tank circuit is basically an
LC circuit (L = inductance  C = capacitance)

>> 
>> Should the spark gaps be connected in series or paraller ?

I have ran both series and parallel spark gap setups and they
both worked. I chose the latter (parallel across HV) because
I believe it to save the neon sign transformer a little more
if there is a swingback of voltage from the secondary to primary
circuit. I have heard said that a spark gap parallel setup
eliminates the need for a safety gap. I would still use a
safety gap (explained later) in case of strikes to the primary.

>> 
>> What is safety gap ?

This is a gap between the high voltage power input and ground.
They are used to protect the source of high voltage, mostly
neon sign transformers. Tesla coils have the ability to have
voltages from the secondary 'swing back' into the primary
circuit and have those voltages can be higher than the voltage
that the neon sign transformer input supplies. This is not 
good. The safety gaps are set so that if the voltage in the
primary circuit reaches a certain level, the spark gap fires
sending the voltage to ground. Sometimes the discharge from
the top of the secondary will strike the primary and the
safety gap is useful in this scenario as well.


>> 
>> How to prevent high voltage spikes striking back to wall ?

Put RF chokes at the HV output of the transformer. There has
been controversy of which was the better way to go, the air
core version or the powdered iron core version. I employ
both. These chokes are used to prevent high operating frequency
voltages from coming back through the transformer and back
down the power mains. RF chokes are also the one of the best ways
to add time to the life of a neon sign transformer. 

>> 
>>         -Calle
>
>
>
Hope this helps some,

Bob Schumann

tesla-at-america-dot-com
http://www.america-dot-com/~tesla

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