RE: Charging inductors for resonant charging

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

Original poster: "Steve Conner" <steve.conner-at-optosci-dot-com> 

 >Hysteresis?

 >The problem is that when the current is 0, there
 >is still flux left in
 >the core. Right? How would an airgap prevent this from happening?

In the light of what we have discussed, the "flux left in the core" thing is
probably not happening, and I feel a bit dumb for bringing it up now X-6

As far as I understand, the only way to have "flux left in the core" would
be if the core had lots of hysteresis. Transformer iron is specially made to
have as little hysteresis as possible, so it shouldn't be possible to have a
significant amoutn of flux remaining at zero current. I think it is more
proabaly as Malcolm Watts said, ungapped iron cores aren't designed to store
energy.

 >I was
 >talking about using a
 >transformer to step the voltage down so you could use a low voltage
 >inductor. I was saying that
 >the transformer shouldn't need an airgap.

Maybe :-0 After all, people who run their coils off pigs/PTs/bombarders with
primary side ballast chokes are sort of doing this already, but backwards,
and with AC, not pulsed DC.

I think it would work as long as you used discontinuous current and never
exceeded the volt-second capacity of the transformer core. I.e. you never
fed it more than the equivalent of a half-cycle of its rated frequency at
its rated voltage.

<scratches head>

Steve C.