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Re: [TCML] CD942 Capacitor failure



Hi Phil,

Yeah, the resonant charging mode certainly gives you more voltage and thus bang, but as your running a pig, then you also have inductive ballasting involved which is going to affect just where along the curve resonance will reside. The coil I ran was just a simple NST coil and my NST always is the first to go as I did abuse it often. Well, hopefully at the thon your coil will run great (cross your fingers ;-) ).

Take care,
Bart

Phil Tuck wrote:
Thanks Bart, the penny has now dropped over the formula. I, for some unknown
reason, was thinking "**2" meant it was squared twice, as I am more used to
" ^2". Checked a few sites, but missed your page (hang head in shame)
I will have to keep the variac max limited to 250v I think, and close the
safety a bit. Safety gap setting on pigs is always going to be hit & miss
unless you have access to an adjustable HV source.
I have recently increased the MMC to 100nF to get resonant charging as
Richie advocates at his post at
http://www.pupman.com/listarchives/2001/June/msg00679.html Unfortunately, it was achieved by altering the MMC from 9 x 19 in series to
12 x 18 in series (38Kv down to 36Kv, but 71nF up to 100nF) in an effort to
reduce capacitor costs; it was while doing the work I discovered the blown
cap. Not a great standoff difference, but clearly not the direction I should have
been aiming for! (Although I haven't tried the coil yet)
Looks like smoke may be seen at the upcoming Cambridge Teslathon.

Phil



-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of bartb
Sent: 16 September 2010 01:47
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: Re: [TCML] CD942 Capacitor failure

Hi Phil,

Regarding power delivered across the gap: P = bps * 1/2*C*Vp^2.

Regarding MMC equations for evaluation, try this:
http://www.classictesla.com/hot-streamer/TeslaCoils/MMCInfo/MMCPower4.html

Regarding 200bps, the temp rise is still only 0.84°C and rms current is
18 amps. I doubt this is the problem. Certainly heating internally can cause
breakdown, but I suspect it is still a voltage issue. Not sure how your
going to identify that, but for the one failure I had on an mmc I referred
to in my last post, I sided with voltage and added a couple more caps in
each series string raising the standoff value and had no further
occurrences.

Take care,
Bart



Phil Tuck wrote:
Gary, Bart et al
Sorry, grave error - I should have mentioned it is 50Hz @ 200 bps.  (UK)
I have tried with the formula P = BPS * 1/2 CV**2   but I'm obviously
putting a bracket or a 'squaring' action in the wrong place.
Can one of you oblige?
Regards
Phil

www.hvtesla.com

-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of bartb
Sent: 15 September 2010 01:46
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: Re: [TCML] CD942 Capacitor failure

Hi Phil,

Interesting post. I have had only one 942C failure similar in description (blackened hole half way down). I never did figure out the cause. Looking at your cap string (as the current is the same in each string) then roughly 14 amps which is not bad. However, that is based on 120 bps. If your are running higher bps (say 240), then the rms current increases to about 20 amps as does heating. So I'm wondering if anything along the lines of bps has changed as it could be a possible
cause.
Take care,
Bart

Phil Tuck wrote:
Hello,

I have suffered several CD942 cap failures lately and I am wondering on the cause. Each time it has just been the one isolated cap. I would not have thought that my voltage was excessive for these caps, but after consulting with another coiler, I am now wondering about a primary
current issue.
I was running a SRSG on a pig rated at 11.55Kv but running at 12Kv at
times.
Secondary current is around 400 to 450ma depending on my ballast setting.

I was using nine strings of 19 in series giving 71nF @ 38Kv. Damage to the caps was an exterior blackened hole where the blowout had occurred. I unwound the last cap' to find where the damage had occurred, this turned out to be about half way down into the cap in its middle layers. The damage at this point being a circular hole about
0.25-inch diameter.
Safety gap was set at 9mm or 0.354 inches at the time with the coil running very smoothly for 3 minutes or more while producing some nice streamers. The dv/dt time should not have been exceeded either as the res frequency is 92 KHz.

The primary was tapped at about 8 turns I think, but he primary coil itself only ever feels slightly warm while the wiring temperature seems to remain unchanged.

Admittedly, none of the caps are now new, as I have used them on previous set-ups before, but I would not say they have ever been abused, as the MMC voltage ratings they have been used in have always been
adequate.
As none of the damage was from proximity issues, it can only really be down to voltage or current I suppose. Thoughts anyone?

Phil

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