Re: The Tabletop Tesla Coil Showdown - OFFICIAL RULES and WEBSITE

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>


>
> > Charging up a cap for a single spark would not qualify for a  continuous
> > spark output. The continuous spark output should also have to occur during
> > the input time. Before building anything of a questionable nature it would
> > be wise to find out from the contest director if it is acceptable for the
> > contest. To build something oddball would be risky especially if it
>doesn't
> > meet the input/output conditions. However, you could still enter the 18
> > footer TC for the novelty prize.
>
>I was using that as an example to illustrate the lunacy that could go on if
>there were no qualification on duty cycle or pulse rate.  My suggestion was
>actually based on the idea of burst mode operation, a large reservoir cap
>charged up to a high DC potential and then dumped into the tank circuit
>through a charging reactor over the space of maybe 100-200 breaks of the
>spark gap.


For more lunacy... Make your TC "system" consist of the following:

low power battery charger, fed through the requisite current limiting 
fuse/metering, etc.
Large high current lead acid battery
High power AC inverter
pole pig based tesla coil of arbitrary size

Charge for days
Fire for minutes...



What about a limit on stored energy....  X kVRMS at Y mARMS for, say, 50mS 
== so many joules..