Re: Calorimeter response #1

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <paul-at-abelian.demon.co.uk>

Gary Johnson wrote:

> Above breakout, however, the coil changes from constant impedance
> to constant current. If I get a 3 inch plume at 300 V and 1 A
> input, then at 400 V input the plume is somewhat longer, but the
> input current is still 1 A.

Awesome - serious brain food. There's an equilibrium going on here
involving the effective impedance of the non-linear corona loading
reflected to the coil base. 

> the phase between voltage and current has not changed

The drive volts should remain in phase with the base current as long
as you're at resonance. You ought to find Fres falling as the power
rises above the breakout point - have you seen any evidence of that?

> I am going to defer answers on humidity until I think I
> understand its effects.

Well said.

Gary, thanks for making my day. The humidity issue is interesting, but
the potential use of a constant current approximation for the coil
base to help us model coil performance under breakout conditions is
very exciting. I hope you can switch to using a smaller coil so that
you can explore the constant current regime further.  Please keep us
informed of further results.

Cheers,
--
Paul Nicholson,
Manchester, UK.
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