pierson@cimnet.dec.com (09/20/90)
(following up on some inquiries about vacuum tube Tesla coils. All Tesla coils
are tuned...) I have wondered, but not sketched, how far one could go with
a late TV chassis (wide screen color, for preference), some of those used two
hefty horizontal output tubes, in parallel...
Consider "Vacuum tube Tesla Coils" by James F Corum, PhD and Kenneth L
Corum, ca 120 pps, ISBN 0-924758-00-7, ca $15.00, Corum & Associates, 8551
State Rd, Windsor, O 44099. This NOT a set of plans for a vacuum tube Tesla
coil, but a discussion of the design issues, with extensive discussion in
terms of current RF design practice, Smith charts applied to Tesla coils, etc.
Jim Corum's PhD is in electrical engineering, and he has taught antenna
theory, etc... They also sell a PC based CAD package for design and
simulation of Tesla coils.
The Corums set out to build coils, and generate a rigorous electrical
engineering knowledge as to how, and what, and why. Their biggest coils are
rotary gap. Rotary gap is still the cheapest way to high power RF power
processing, so long as extreme spectral purity is not an issue. (A spark gap,
appearances to the contrary, can be very efficient). One key to analysis seems
to be treating the secondary as a "helical resonator", rather than a
lumped_inductor_with_stray_capacitance. A second caution from the Corum's is
to use ample sizes wire, even on the secondary: The currents are small, but
the voltage rise depends on the resonance, so high resistance secondaries are
a "bad thing".
Also
International Tesla Society
330-A West Uintah St, Suite 215,
Colorado Springs, CO
80905
ITS membership is $20.00 a year, which gets a quarterly "journal" of
speculative science and Tesla related articles.
And
Tesla Coil Builders Association
Route 3, 181 Amy Lane
Glens Falls, NY
12801
I believe TCBA to be more technically oriented, have to join, one of these days.
thanks
dave pierson |the facts, as accurately as i can manage,
Digital Equipment Corporation |the opinions, my own.
600 Nickerson Rd
Marlboro, Mass
01752 pierson@cimnet.enet.dec.com
"He has read everything, and, to his credit, written nothing." A J Raffles