The following diagram shows my tesla coil setup:
I use my EHT3 design as a high voltage ac supply. This is rectified by a home-made high voltage diode stack. This is formed from 60 x 1N4007 diodes, with 10M resistors across each to even out reverse voltages. The circuit diagram is shown below:
The Tesla coil's secondary, L3 is a 550mm winding of 22s.w.g wire on a 110mm diameter black PVC former (2m for £6.99 at Wickes). The black PVC former is 650mm long, and 658mm including the end caps. The windings are sealed with several coats of Clear Gloss Polyurethane varnish (Ronseal Hardglaze). The toroid terminal T1 is made from a 11.75" diameter, 18mm thick piece of plywood, covered in aluminium tape with a piece of 100mm diameter aluminium ducting (4m for £7.99 at Wickes) wrapped around it. The whole terminal was then covered in aluminium tape for strength and neatness.
The spark gap that I am currently using with my Tesla Coil setup is of a cylindrical multi static gap design (often known as the 'Richard Quick' or RQ gap). The spark gap consists of twelve electrodes, each of which is a 5 cm long section of 22 mm diameter copper pipe. The electrodes are arranged in a cylindrical fashion so that there is a 0.025 inch gap between them. This is achieved by using 2 M4 bolts to fix the sections of copper pipe onto the inside of a 11 cm diameter x 10 cm long section of PVC pipe. Connections are be made to the electrodes using the protruding ends of the M4 bolts. It is possible to vary the number of series gaps by connecting to different electrodes.
At present I do not have a source of air to blow over the gaps, so this is the next stage of ongoing improvements to the coil.
See alsoexcel spreadsheet calculations.
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