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Re: 60 vs. 30 ma
From: Shawn Collins[SMTP:rubidium-at-worldnet.att-dot-net]
Sent: Monday, June 23, 1997 1:47 PM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: 60 vs. 30 ma
At 01:24 PM 6/22/97 +0000, you wrote:
>
>From: Alfred A. Skrocki[SMTP:alfred.skrocki-at-cybernetworking-dot-com]
>Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 1997 7:29 PM
>To: Tesla List
>Subject: Re: 60 vs. 30 ma
>
>Wednesday, June 18, 1997 8:10 AM Gary Lau
><lau-at-hdecad.ENET.dec-dot-com> wrote;
>
>> >Actually you do have to increase the capacitor size if you increase
>> >the charging current otherwise you will not be using the additional
>> >current. Realize of course this assumes that you were already using
>> >the largest practical size capacitor for the charging current. The
>> >capacitor is really the controlling factor as to how much power we
>> >can cram into a given Tesla coil.
>>
>>
>> It would seem to me that if one switches to a transformer with
>> twice the current rating, using the same capacitor, that the
>> capacitor would simply charge up to the spark gap voltage twice
>> as fast.
>
>You can make all the current in the world available to a capacitor
>and it is NOT going to charge any faster! To make a capacitor charge
>faster you have to increase the applied voltage! Try and remember the
>old analogies to clearify; current is the quantity of electrons and
>voltage is the pressure the electrons are under. How any electrons
>you have available wont effect how fast a capacitor charges, but the
>amount of pressure (voltage) they are under will! If you keep the
>applied voltage the same but double the available current, you will
>have to double the capacitance to use that available current.
>
It seems to me that if your neon is loaded down by a charging cap that it
will charge it faster if greater current is available. As the voltage across
the neon rises the cap will continue to charge. Current is definitely part
of the equation here because of the intial voltage drop during charging !
Of course if you are dealing with a small cap that can charge with the
available current to full potential in a quarter cycle, then increasing
charging current will have no effect. Only when the cap is not charged to
full potential in a 1/4 cycle is there a need for more current.
JC