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Re: contact spark gap



Original poster: FutureT@xxxxxxx In a message dated 4/16/07 9:00:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:

plagued by all sorts of jamming, heating, scorching, warping, and
"quenching" problems).  As there is no spark, "quenching" is a
misnomer (except for residual spark before and after contact, which
is minimized but probably not entirely prevented by oil) but I will
still have to figure a way to prevent it from dumping too much
energy, which it will do incredibly fast, as it is conducting through
metal, instead of an arc!  Perhaps adding resistance, or a current
limiting inductor on either side of the gap, but that may waste some
energy, defeating the whole purpose


Scott,

A low resistance switch is highly desireable because
it will reduce losses in a Tesla coil system.  No
special ballasting or current limiting will be needed.
The rate of energy transfer depends highly on the
coupling between the primary and secondary.  The
rate of energy transfer is only slightly affected by
the resistance of the switch, within the range of
resistances that we're speaking of.  Also, an arc has a
rather low resistance.  Another problem you may
see is that quenching may actually be worse.  This
is because the metal to metal contact may actually
delay quenching during the time the metal is in
contact.  Depending on the coupling, frequency,
mechanical dwell-time, capacitor value, etc, the
gap may re-fire (fire twice) while the metal is in
contact.  This would cause very high overall losses and
inefficient operation.

By all means build the device and report to us how it
works.

John




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