From: FutureT@aol.com
Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 21:48:08 EDT
Subject: Re: [TSSP] Topload breakout potentials
--part1_63.ba1b5ab.2a15bb58_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 5/16/02 7:17:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, paul@abelian.demon.co.uk writes: > The trouble is, > the descriptions of the coil's breakout are based on running at > a certain BPS and I'm not taking account of this. Maybe we need > real slow BPS eg 1 per second in order to find observations that > can test these primitive models. > > Paul, all, I definitely agree. Usually, folks use a static gap and they slowly charge the cap though a resistor using DC I think, to greatly reduce the break rate. I've never tried this single-shot type operation in any of my coils. Since single shot operation often gives a great number of small streamers, these extra streamers must somehow die away with subsequent bangs. This suggests that even when these numerous streamers are formed at first, one (or a few) must win the contest and grow longer, and deplete the other streamers in some fashion. This coalescence of the streamers usually occurs at about 100 or 120 bps or so. This coalescence process works to sometimes give the streamers a different look at high bps around 300bps or higher. The streamer often becomes rather thick and bright along the middle of the streamer length, but with a bushy end. The whole streamer tends to have a tendril-like appearance. Other coils give similar looking sparks at both high and lower break-rates, and I don't know why. I did a new test on my TT-42. I raised the toroid by 2 1/4", so now the bottom of the 6" x 24" toroid is 3" above the top of the secondary winding. There were no racing sparks, but breakout now occurred (no breakout bump) when tapped at 16.5 turns and at 17.5 turns. With the previous lower toroid position, breakout occured without the breakout bump, only at 16.5 turns. I then tuned at 18.5 turns, and I thought the sparks looked stronger, but upon measuring them, they were found to be the same as before. They did hit 45" one time, when I first turned up the power, but I didn't count that. I've noticed that for some reason, the first spark is often the longest. This seems to apply to all, or almost all coils. I don't know why this happens. Maybe as the variac is turned up quickly, the spark grows along with the rising power input in some fashion, with less likelihood of branching (these initial sparks seem to be less branched). Branching of the sparks tends to shorten the spark length maybe. When the sparks branch, the energy is spend in two or more directions, so it makes sense that the sparks would be shorter. Or maybe it's because there's no pre-existing ionization or something. Another mystery, and I've never heard it mentioned before. Cheers, John --part1_63.ba1b5ab.2a15bb58_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 5/16/02 7:17:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, paul@abelian.demon.co.uk writes:
The trouble is,Paul, all,
the descriptions of the coil's breakout are based on running at
a certain BPS and I'm not taking account of this. Maybe we need
real slow BPS eg 1 per second in order to find observations that
can test these primitive models.
I definitely agree. Usually, folks use a static gap and they slowly
charge the cap though a resistor using DC I think, to greatly reduce
the break rate. I've never tried this single-shot type operation in
any of my coils. Since single shot operation often gives a great
number of small streamers, these extra streamers must somehow
die away with subsequent bangs. This suggests that even when
these numerous streamers are formed at first, one (or a few) must win
the contest and grow longer, and deplete the other streamers
in some fashion. This coalescence of the streamers usually
occurs at about 100 or 120 bps or so. This coalescence process
works to sometimes give the streamers a different look at high
bps around 300bps or higher. The streamer often becomes rather
thick and bright along the middle of the streamer length, but with a
bushy end. The whole streamer tends to have a tendril-like appearance.
Other coils give similar looking sparks at both high and lower break-rates,
and I don't know why.
I did a new test on my TT-42. I raised the toroid by 2 1/4", so now
the bottom of the 6" x 24" toroid is 3" above the top of the secondary
winding. There were no racing sparks, but breakout now occurred
(no breakout bump) when tapped at 16.5 turns and at 17.5 turns.
With the previous lower toroid position, breakout occured without
the breakout bump, only at 16.5 turns.
I then tuned at 18.5 turns,
and I thought the sparks looked stronger, but upon measuring them,
they were found to be the same as before. They did hit 45" one time,
when I first turned up the power, but I didn't count that. I've noticed
that for some reason, the first spark is often the longest. This seems
to apply to all, or almost all coils. I don't know why this happens.
Maybe as the variac is turned up quickly, the spark grows along
with the rising power input in some fashion, with less likelihood of
branching (these initial sparks seem to be less branched). Branching
of the sparks tends to shorten the spark length maybe. When the
sparks branch, the energy is spend in two or more directions, so it makes
sense that the sparks would be shorter. Or maybe it's because
there's no pre-existing ionization or something. Another mystery,
and I've never heard it mentioned before.
Cheers,
John --part1_63.ba1b5ab.2a15bb58_boundary--
Maintainer Paul Nicholson, paul@abelian.demon.co.uk.