Encyclopedia
A
Tesla coil is a category of disruptive discharge
transformer coils, named after their inventor,
Nikola Tesla. Tesla coils are composed of coupled resonant electric circuits. Nikola Tesla actually experimented with a large variety of coils and configurations, so it is difficult to describe a specific mode of construction that will meet the wants of those who ask about "
Tesla" coils. "Early coils" and "later coils" vary in configuration and setup. Tesla coils in general are very popular devices among high-voltage enthusiasts.
History
Early coils
The
American Electrician gives a description of an early tesla coil wherein a
glass battery jar, six
inches by eight inches, is wound with 60 to 80 turns of American wire gauge No. 18 B & S
magnet wire. Into this is slipped a primary consisting of eight to ten turns of AWG No. 6 B & S wire, and the whole combination immersed in a vessel containing linseed or mineral oil.
Disruptive "Tesla" coils
In the spring of 1891, Tesla gave demonstrations with various machines before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers at Columbia College. Following the initial research of
voltage and
frequency by
William Crookes, Tesla developed a series of coils that produced high-
voltage, high-frequency currents. In the majority of Tesla's experiments, he used machinery of his own design to produce the
Tesla effect. These early coils would use the "disruptive" action of a
spark gap in their operation. The setup can be duplicated by a Ruhmkorff coil, two
condensers , and a second, specially constructed, disruptive coil.
The Ruhmkorff coil, being fed from a
main source, is wired to capacitors on both ends in series. A spark gap is placed in parallel to the Ruhmkorff coil before the capacitors. The discharge tips were usually metal balls under one inch in
diameter, though Tesla used various forms of dischargers. The capacitors were of a special design, small with high insulation. These capacitors consisted of plates in oil that were movable. The smaller the plates, the more frequent the discharge of this early coil apparatus. The plates also help nullify the high self inductance of the secondary coil by adding capacity to it. Mica plates were placed in the spark gap to establish an
air current jet to go up through the gap. This helped to extinguish the
arc, making the discharge more abrupt. An air blast was also used for this objective.
The capacitors are connected to a double primary . These are part of the second specially constructed disruptive coil. The primaries each have twenty turns of No. 16 B & S rubber covered wire and are wound separately on
rubber tubes not less than a 1/8th inch thick. The secondary has 300 turns of No. 30 B & S silk-covered magnet wire, wound on rubber tube or rod, and the ends encased in glass or rubber tubes. The primaries must be large enough to be loose when the secondary coil is placed between the coils. The primaries must cover around two inches of the secondary. A hard rubber division must be placed between these primary coils. The ends of the primaries not connected with the capacitors are lead to a spark gap.
In ,
System of Electric Lighting , Tesla described this early disruptive coil. It was devised for the purpose of converting and supplying electrical energy in a form suited for the production of certain novel electrical phenomena, which require currents of higher frequency and potential. It also specified an energy storage capacitor and discharger mechanism on the primary side of a radio-frequency transformer. This is the first-ever disclosure of a practical RF power supply capable of exciting an antenna to emit powerful electromagnetic radiation.
Another early Tesla coil was protected in 1897 by , "Electrical Transformer". This transformer developed currents of high potential and was comprised of a primary and secondary coil . This Tesla coil had the secondary being inside of, and surrounded by, the convolutions of the primary coil. This Tesla coil comprised of a primary and secondary wound in the form of a flat spiral. One coil, the secondary in step up transformation, of the device consisted of a longer fine-wire. The apparatus was also connected to the Earth when the coil was in use.
Later coils
Tesla, in
System of Transmission of Electrical Energy and
Apparatus for Transmission of Electrical Energy, described new and useful combinations employed in transformer coils. The transmitting coil or conductor arranged and excited to cause currents or oscillation to propagate through conduction through the natural medium from one point to another remote point therefrom and a receiver coil or conductor of the transmitted signals. The production of currents of very high potential could be attained in these coils. He would later attain ,
Method of Signaling, and ,
System of Signaling, for coils with elevated transmitter capacitance with an Earth electrode.
Some of Tesla's later coils were considerably larger and operated at much higher power levels. When Tesla patented a later device in , he called the device a high-
voltage, air-core,
self-regenerative resonant
transformer that generates
very high voltages at high frequency. However, this phrase is no longer in conventional use. The later systems were at times powered from large high voltage power transformers, used banks of glass bottle capacitors immersed in oil to reduce corona losses, and used rotating spark gaps to handle the higher power levels. Tesla also dispensed with using oil to insulate the transformer coils, relying instead on the insulating properties of air. Tesla coils achieve great
gain in voltage by loosely coupling two resonant
LC circuits together, using an air-core transformer. Unlike a conventional transformer, whose gain is limited to the ratio of the numbers of turns in the windings, Tesla coils' voltage gain is proportional to the
square root of the ratio of secondary and primary
inductances.
Later coil types are the usual devices built by modern enthusiasts. It is an air-core, dual-tuned resonant transformer that generates very high
voltages at
radio frequencies . The coil achieves a great gain in voltage by transferring energy from one resonant circuit to the other over a number of cycles. Tesla Coil operation is significantly different from a conventional transformer whose gain is limited to the ratio of the numbers of turns in the windings.
Although modern Tesla Coils are designed to generate long sparks, Tesla's original system were designed for wireless communication, so he used large radii of curvature to prevent corona and streamer losses. Tesla coils' outer conducting surfaces, which are charged to a high potential, have large radii of curvature to minimise leakage of the
oscillating charges through corona discharges or sparks. The intensity of the voltage gain of the circuit with a free, or elevated,
toroid is proportional to the quantity of charge displaced, which is determined by the product of the capacitance of the circuit, the
voltage , and the frequency of the currents employed. Tesla also used various versions of his coil in experiments with
fluorescence,
x-rays, wireless power for
electric power transmission, electrotherapy, and telluric currents in conjunction with
atmospheric electricity.
Description
Later coils consist of a primary
tank circuit, which is a series LC circuit composed of a high voltage
capacitor,
spark gap, and
primary coil; and the secondary LC circuit, a series resonant circuit consisting of the
secondary coil and the toroid. In Tesla's original plans, the secondary LC circuit is composed of a loaded secondary coil which is then placed in series with a large helical coil. The helical coil was then connected to the toroid. Most modern coils use only a single secondary coil. The toroid actually forms one terminal of a
capacitor, the other terminal being the Earth . The primary LC circuit is "tuned" so that it will resonate at the same frequency as the secondary LC circuit. The
primary and
secondary coils are magnetically coupled, creating a dual-tuned resonant air-core transformer. However, unlike a conventional transformer, which may couple 97%+ of the magnetic fields between windings, a Tesla Coil's windings are "loosely" coupled, with the primary and secondary typically sharing only 10-20% of their respective magnetic fields. Most oil insulated
transformers need large and long insulations at their connections to prevent discharge in air. Later version
Tesla Coils spread their electric field over a large distance to prevent high electrical stresses in the first place, thereby allowing operation in free air.
The terminal that consists of a metallic frame in the shape of a
toroid, covered with smooth half spherical
metal plates . Tesla employed on his
largest system this type of shaped element within a
dome. The top terminal has relatively small capacitance, charged to as high a voltage as practicable. The outer surface of the elevated conductor is where the electrical charge chiefly accumulates. It has a large radius of curvature, or is composed of separate elements which, irrespective of their own radii of curvature, are arranged close to each other so that the outside ideal surface enveloping them has a large radius. This design allows the terminal to support very high voltages without generating corona or sparks. Tesla during his patent application process described a variety of resonator terminals at the top of this later coil. Most Modern Tesla coils use simple toroids, typically fabricated from spun metal or flexible aluminum ducting, to control the high
electrical field near the top of the secondary and to direct spark outward, and away, from the primary and secondary windings.
The circuit consists of a secondary coil that is inductively coupled to the primary, one end of which is connected to a good earth ground, while its other end is usually connected to a smoothly shaped discharge terminal . The frame is carried by a strong platform and rests on insulating supports. The circuit consists of a coil in close inductive relation with a primary, and one end of which is connected to a ground-plate, while its other end is led through a separate self-induction coil and a metallic cylinder to the terminal. The primary coil may be excited by any desired source of high frequency current. The important requirement is that the primary and secondary sides must be tuned to the same resonant frequency to allow efficient transfer of energy between the primary and secondary LC circuits. Originally, a high frequency
alternator or a
capacitor discharge were used to excite the primary coil, and modern Tesla Coils may use
vacuum tube or power
transistor oscillators to excite the primary and generate high frequency current.
The conductor of the shaft to the terminal is in the form of a cylinder with smooth surface of a radius much larger than that of the spherical metal plates, and widens out at the bottom into a hood . The secondary coil is wound on a drum of insulating material, with its turns close together. When the effect of the small radius of curvature of the wire itself is overcome, the lower secondary coil behaves as a conductor of large radius of curvature, corresponding to that of the drum . The lower end of the upper secondary coil, if desired, may be extended up to the terminal and should be somewhat below the uppermost turn of the primary coil. This lessens the tendency of the charge to break out from the wire connecting both and to pass along the support.
Utilisation and production
Transmission
A large Tesla coil of more modern design can operate at very high peak power levels, up to many megawatts . It should therefore be adjusted and operated carefully, not only for efficiency and economy, but also for safety. If, due to improper tuning, the maximum voltage point occurs below the terminal, along the secondary coil, a discharge , or possibly a
ball of plasma, may break out and damage or destroy the coil wire, supports, nearby objects, or anything else in the way.
Tesla experimented with these, and many other, circuit configurations. In either circuit, the AC supply transformer charges the tank capacitor until its voltage is sufficient to break down the spark gap. The gap suddenly fires, allowing the fully charged tank capacitor to discharge into the primary winding. And, in either circuit, the Tesla Coil primary winding, spark gap, and tank capacitor are all connected in series. Once the gap fires, the electrical behavior of either circuit is identical. Experiments have shown that neither circuit offers any marked performance advantage versus the other.
However, in the typical circuit , the spark gap's short circuiting action prevents high frequency oscillations from "backing up" into the supply transformer. In the alternate circuit, high amplitude high frequency oscillations that appear across the capacitor also are applied to the supply transformer's winding. This can induce corona discharges between turns that weaken, and eventually destroy, the transformer's insulation. Experienced Tesla coil builders almost exclusively use the top circuit, often augmenting it with low pass filters between the supply transformer and spark gap. This is especially important when using transformers with fragile high voltage windings, such as
Neon-sign transformers . Regardless of which configuration is used, the HV transformer must be of a type that self-limits its secondary current by means of internal
leakage inductance. A normal high voltage transformer must use an external limiter to limit current. NST's are designed to have high leakage inductance to limit their short circuit current to a safe level.
Safety and precautions
It is advisable to begin the tuning, in which the primary coil's resonant frequency is set to the same value of the secondary coil's, using low-power oscillations, then increasing the power until the apparatus has been brought under control. One or more elements or plates of somewhat smaller radius of curvature or protruding more or less beyond the others so that, should the voltage rise too high, the powerful discharge may escape. While tuning, a small projection is often added to the top terminal in order to stimulate
corona and spark discharges into the surrounding air. Tuning can then be adjusted so as to get the longest streamers at a given power level, corresponding to a frequency match between the primary and secondary coil. Capacitive "loading" by the streamers tends to lower the resonant frequency of a Tesla Coil operating under full power. For a variety of technical reasons, toroids provide the best overall shape for top terminals of modern Tesla coils.
Since Tesla coils can produce currents or discharges of very high frequency and voltage, they are useful for various purposes including classroom demonstration, theater and movie special-effects, and product/technology safety testing. In typical operation, long, branching high-voltage sparks may strike out in all directions from the toroid into the air, producing a dangerous, yet strangely beautiful, lightning-like display of electricity "in action".
Air discharges
While generating discharges, electrical energy from the secondary and toroid is transferred to the surrounding air as electrical charge, heat, light, and sound. The electric currents that flow through these discharges are actually due to the rapid shifting of quantities of charge from one place to other places . The process is similar to charging or discharging a
capacitor. The current that arises from shifting charges within a capacitor is called a displacement current. Tesla Coil discharges are formed as a result of displacement currents as pulses of electrical charge are rapidly transferred between the high voltage toroid and nearby regions within the air . Although the space charge regions around the toroid are invisible, they play a profound role in the appearance and location of Tesla Coil discharges.
When the spark gap fires, the charged capacitor discharges into the primary winding, causing the primary circuit to oscillate. The oscillating primary current creates a magnetic field that couples to the secondary winding, transferring energy into the secondary side of the transformer and causing it to oscillate with the toroid capacitance. The energy transfer occurs over a number of cycles, and most of the energy that was originally in the primary side is transferred into the secondary side. The greater the magnetic coupling between windings, the shorter the time required to complete the energy transfer. As energy builds within the oscillating secondary circuit, the amplitude of the toroid's RF voltage rapidly increases, and the air surrounding toroid begins to undergo
dielectric breakdown, forming a corona discharge.
As the secondary's energy continue to increase, larger pulses of displacement current further ionize and heat the air at the point of initial breakdown. This forms a very conductive "root" of hotter
plasma, called a leader, that projects outward from the toroid. The plasma within the leader is considerably hotter than a corona discharge, and is considerably more conductive. In fact, it has properties that are similar to an
electric arc. The leader tapers and branches into thousands of thinner, cooler, hairlike discharges . The streamers look like a bluish "haze" at the ends of the more luminous leaders, and it's the streamers that actually transfer charge between the leaders and toroid to nearby space charge regions. The displacement currents from countless streamers all feed into the leader, helping to keep it hot and electrically conductive.
In a spark gap Tesla Coil the primary-to-secondary energy transfer process happens repetitively at typical pulsing rates of 50–500 times/second, and previously formed leader channels don't get a chance to fully cool down between pulses. So, on successive pulses, newer discharges can build upon the hot pathways left by their predecessors. This causes incremental growth of the leader from one pulse to the next, lengthening the entire discharge on each successive pulse. Repetitive pulsing causes the discharges to grow until the average energy that's available from the Tesla Coil during each pulse balances the average energy being lost in the discharges . At this point, dynamic equilibrium is reached, and the discharges have reached their maximum length for the Tesla Coil's output power level. The unique combination of a rising high voltage
Radio Frequency envelope and repetitive pulsing seem to be ideally suited to creating long, branching discharges that are considerably longer than would otherwise be expected by output voltage considerations alone. However, even 100 years later, there are many aspects of Tesla Coil discharges and the energy transfer process that are still not completely understood.
Reception
The secondary coil and its capacitor can be used in receive mode. The parameters of a Tesla Coil transmitter are identically applicable to it being a receiver, due to reciprocity. Impedance, however, is not applied in an obvious way; for
electrical impedance, the impedance at the
load is most critical and, for a Tesla Coil receiver, this is at the point of utilization rather than at the receiving node.
The Tesla Coil can also be made to utilize
atmospheric electricity. Generally, though, Tesla coils are not used for these purposes. Theoretically, a variation of the Tesla coil could utilize the phantom loop effect to form a circuit to induct energy from the
earth's magnetic field and other radiant energy. This concept is part of Tesla's wireless transmission of electric power distribution system .
The skin effect myth
The dangers of high frequency electrical current are sometimes perceived as being less than at lower frequencies. This is often, but mistakenly, interpreted as being due to skin effect, a phenomenon that tends to inhibit
alternating current from flowing inside conducting media. Although skin effect is applicable to good electrical conductors , the skin depth of human flesh at typical Tesla Coil frequencies is still of the order of 60 inches or more. This means that high frequency currents will still preferentially flow through deeper, better conducting, portions of an experimenter's body such as the circulatory and nervous systems. In reality, a human being's nervous system does not directly sense the flow of potentially dangerous electrical currents above 15–20 kHz; essentially, in order for nerves to be activated, a significant number of ions must cross their membrane before the current reverses. And, since the body no longer provides a warning "shock", novices may touch the output streamers of small Tesla Coils without feeling painful shocks. However, there is anecdotal evidence among Tesla Coil experimenters that temporary tissue damage may still occur as muscle, joint pain, or tingling for hours or even days afterwards. This is believed to be caused by the damaging effects of internal current flow, and is especially common with
continuous wave solid state or
vacuum tube type Tesla Coils.
Large Tesla Coils and Magnifiers can deliver dangerous levels of high frequency current, and they can also develop significantly higher voltages . Because of the higher voltages, large systems can deliver higher energy, potentially lethal, repetitive high voltage capacitor discharges from their top terminals. Doubling the output voltage quadruples the electrostatic energy stored in a given top terminal capacitance. If an unwary experimenter accidentally places himself in path of the high voltage capacitor discharge to ground, the high current
electric shock can cause involuntary spasms of major muscle groups, and may induce life-threatening
ventricular fibrillation and
cardiac arrest. Even lower power
vacuum tube or solid state Tesla Coils can deliver RF currents that are capable of causing temporary internal tissue, nerve, or joint damage through Joule heating. In addition, an RF
arc can carbonize flesh, causing a painful and dangerous bone-deep RF burn that may take months to heal. Because of these risks, knowledgeable experimenters avoid contact with streamers from all but the smallest systems. Professionals usually use other means of protection such as a
Faraday cage or a
chainmail suit to prevent dangerous currents from entering their body.
Instances and devices
Tesla's Colorado Springs laboratory possessed one of the largest Tesla coils ever built, known as the "
Magnifying Transmitter". The Magnifying Transmitter is somewhat different from classic 2-coil Tesla coils. A Magnifier uses a 2-coil "Driver" to excite the base of a third coil that is located some distance from the driver. The operating principles of both systems are similar. The world's largest currently existing 2-coil Tesla coil was made by Greg Leyh. It is a 130,000 watt unit, part of a 38 foot tall sculpture. It is owned by Alan Gibb and currently resides in a private sculpture park at Kakanui Point near
Auckland,
New Zealand.
The Tesla coil is an early predecessor of a more modern device called a flyback transformer, which provides the voltage needed to power the
cathode ray tube used in some
televisions and computer monitors. The disruptive discharge coil remains in common use as the "
ignition coil" or "
spark coil" in the
ignition system of an
internal combustion engine. A modern low power variant of the Tesla coil is also used to power
plasma globe sculptures and similar devices.
Popularity
Tesla coils are very popular devices among certain
electrical engineers and
electronics enthusiasts. Someone who builds Tesla coils as a hobby is called a "Tesla coiler", or simply "coiler". There are even "coiling" conventions where people attend with their home made Tesla coils and other electrical devices of interest.
It should be noted that there are rather significant safety issues regarding coil assembly and operation by hobbyists .
Mag. Erwin Kohaut, a physics teacher at the Austrian high school BGRG 12 Rosasgasse in
Vienna,
Austria, and some students built one of the biggest Tesla coils of Europe. It stands in the cellar of that school. Low power Tesla Coils are also sometimes used as a high voltage source for Kirlian photography.
A very big tesla coil is shown every year at the Coachella music and arts festival, in Coachella, Indio, California, USA.
In Fiction
Tesla coils are featured in the
Command & Conquer is the original game in Westwood Studios [i]' Command & Conquer series [i] of real-time strategy [i] ...
series of strategy computer games by
Westwood Studios as a powerful defensive weapon on the Soviet side. The "Tesla coil weapon" in the Command and Conquer computer game series emits large electrical discharges to destroy enemy troops. It is shown as a long pole with three rings around it and a ball on top. The games also feature a Tesla Tank and a Tesla Trooper , both found in
Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 is a 2.5D [i] real-time strategy [i] computer game [i] ...
and
Command and Conquer Yuri's Revenge is an expansion pack [i] to the real-time strategy [i] computer game [i] ...
. They also made an appearance on the original , but only on the Aftermath add-on for PC and Red Alert: Retaliation for Sony Playstation. The Tesla Trooper was called a shock trooper on the original Red Alert. The Soviets also used a structure called the Tesla Reactor as their standard power-generating method. In reality, it would be very difficult to "aim" the discharges of a Tesla coil, and Tesla coils use power; they don't generate it.
In the
Destroy All Humans! is a video game developed by Pandemic Studios [i] and published by THQ [i]. ...
video game, it is utilized as an anti-air emplacement. Tesla coils, as well as an operational Tesla Death Ray make an appearance in . In the game by
Troika Games, weapons such as the Tesla Gun, Tesla Pistol, or the Tesla Rod can be created by combining certain weapons with a Tesla coil. In the game
Tremulous, Tesla generators can be utilized by the human team as base defenses which zap enemies who come near.
In a game
Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Authors used Tesla Gun, which fired electrical discharge "rail", or in alternate firing mode, gun would fire electricall ball into target.
The
Jim Jarmusch film '
Coffee and Cigarettes' featured a segment starring the couple Jack and
Meg White from the band
The White Stripes entitled 'Jack shows Meg his Tesla coil'. In the segment, the pair are having a coffee. Jack explains the work of Nikola Tesla to Meg and demonstrates the coil he has by his side.
Tesla Coils are featured part of the Thaddius encounter in
World of Warcraft's Naxxaramas dungeon.
The Electroshock cannon in the PC game
Evil Genius is a Tesla Coil, in the game it is depicted to spin after each discharge, possibly to generate Static electricity
In the novel
The Prestige by Christopher Priest, one the book's main characters seeks the help of Nikola Tesla to construct a device to transport matter for the purposes of magic. Tesla then creates a variant of the Tesla Coil to achive this.
See also
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Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic machine [i] which uses a movi ...
Related patents
;
Tesla's patents- See also: List of Tesla patents
- "Means for Generating Electric Currents," U.S. Patent No. 514,168, February 6, 1894
- "Electrical Transformer," Patent No. 593,138, November 2, 1897
- "Method Of Utilizing Radiant Energy," Patent No. 685,958 November 5, 1901
- "Method of Signaling," U.S. Patent No. 723,188, Mar. 17, 1903
- "System of Signaling," U.S. Patent No. 725,605, Apr. 14, 1903
- "Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy," Jan. 18, 1902, U.S. Patent 1,119,732, Dec. 1, 1914
;Other's patents
Wireless receiving system
". 1914. Armstrong, E. H., , "Method of receiving high frequency oscillation
". 1922. Armstrong, E. H., , "Signalling system
". 1922. Leydorf, G. F., , "Antenna near field coupling system
". 1966. Van Voorhies, , "Toroidal helical antenna
"
References, notes, and further readings
;Citation notes
;Operation and other information
- Corum, Kenneth L. and James F. "
" Nicholson, Paul, "" Beaty, Bill, "". Vujovic, Ljubo, "". Tesla Memorial Society of New York. Hickman, Bert, "" Cooper, John. F., "Magnifying Transmitter ;
".
Electrical World
The Development of High Frequency Currents for Practical Application
"., The Electrical World, Vol 32, No. 8. "Boundless Space: A Bus Bar
". The Electrical World, Vol 32, No. 19.
Other publications
Triple Resonance Pulse Transformer Circuit
". Review of Scientific Instruments, 61 . Corum, J. F., and K. L. Corum, "RF Coils, Helical Resonators and Voltage Magnification by Coherent Spatial Modes
". IEEE, 2001. de Queiroz, Antonio Carlos M., "Synthesis of Multiple Resonance Networks
". Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. EE/COPE. Haller, George Francis, and Elmer Tiling Cunningham, "The Tesla high frequency coil, its construction and uses
". New York, D. Van Nostrand company, 1910. Hartley, R. V. L., "Oscillations with Non-linear Reactances
". Bell Systems Technical Journal, Sun Publishing. 1992. Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
External articles and resources
History sites
-
- Tesla, Nikola, "". 1898-09-13.
Builders and examples
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- : Tesla Coil Systems and Effects
- : large tesla coil
- : large tesla coil
- , June 2005.
- Hook & Shelley, : High quality video of two contrasting Tesla Coils.
- Mark Barton, . Long Beach, California.
- Maker of Tesla Coil apparatus
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