Re: Maximum voltage gain in a Tesla coil

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

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br> 

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: "Gerry Reynolds" <gerryreynolds-at-earthlink-dot-net>
 >
 > Hi Antonio,
 >
 > I've had this belief that detuning say the primary to a lower frequency was
 > to compensate for added topload due to streamer formation.  Is this true? I
 > take it that what you are describing here is another consideration?  How the
 > "streamer affect" fit in to the optimization.

Streamers essentially add more capacitance to the output side,
decreasing the natural resonance frequency of the secondary system.
All that is needed then is to retune the primary as you describe.
More elaborate modeling can consider streamers as adding a series RC
circuit across the secondary, with the resistor accounting for the
power dissipated in the streamers. In this case the model structure
changes. It may be possible then to optimize the circuit for
maximum energy delivered to the streamers. My program can't do this
now, but I would not expect a big departure from the regular tuning
for the lossless circuit.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz