..

.,
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8
8

o o
full power is applied. (Remember
that the resonant frequency can
be affected by nea rby objects.)
The current supplied to the sec-
ondary coil is indicated by LED1.
Tun ing is accomplished by ad-
j usting the frequency via Rl and
observing LED1. When reso-
nance is achieved. the secondary
coil will have a low impe dance
which will produce maximum
current. lighting the LED. Di-
odes 03-06 li mit t he forward
and reverse voltages on LED1
when in the high-power mode.
(Note t hat you must use an LED
t hat ligh ts at 1. 5 volt s-some
LED's . i n cl uding most green
ones. need 2. 1 volts or higher.
When t he devi ce is switched
into the operat ing mode (or the
hi gh-power model. h alf-wave
line-volt age pulses will be applied
to t he primary of T2. As the half-
wave voltage increases, the cu r-
rent in t he secon dary co il in-
creases and the energy s tored in
the inductance and capacitance
of t he secondary co il will in-
crease. During this t ime there is
no corona fro m t he secon dary
coil (if the coil is constructed as
shown in this article). Sometime
before the hal f-wave line voltage
reaches its peak. the corona will
appear on t he secon dary co il,
which wi ll d is sipat e the store d
energy very quickly During the
remainder of t he half-wave line
voltage. the coil will produce cor-
ona but the energy level will not
be as great as t he initial di s -
charge. The coil will produce s ix-
ty individual corona discharges
every second, although you'll see
a continuous di scharge.
ri__
L Cb
, .. 7.1INCHES I
USE THIS FOIL PATTERN, shown half-size, to etch your own PC board .
Warning!! This' article deals with and
involves subject matter and the use of
materials and substances that may be
hazardous to health and life. Do not at-
tempt to implement or use the information
contained herein, unless you are experi-
enced and skilled with respect to such
subject matter, materials, and sub-
stances. Neither the publisher nor the au-
thor make any representation as for the
completeness or accuracy of the informa-
tion contained herein, and disclaim any
liability for damages or injuries, whether
caused by or arising fromthe lack of com-
pleteness, inaccuracies of the informa-
tion, misrepresentations of the directions,
misapplicationof the information, or other-
wise.
each other, and drive the gates of
MOSFET's Ql and Q2. which. in
turn, drive the primary of trans-
former T1. Trans former Tl drives
t he bases of switch i ng-t ran -
s is to rs Q3 and Q4. The compo-
nents in t he bas e circ uitry a re
u sed t o increas e t he switchi ng
speed of the transistors . Tran-
sistors Q3 and Q4 switc h the line
voltage across t he primary ofT2,
which increases t he voltage and
drives t he end of the secondary
coil directly. Note t hat t he line
voltage deli vered to T2 is hal f-
wave recti fied by 01. That is im-
portant to the ope ration of the
Tesla coil becaus e a pulsating
voltage is needed to produce the
bes t effects.
When the d evice is plugged
into a wall recep t acle it will be in
its standby mode. Thatis, the 21-
volt power su pply will be opera-
tional and t he FET's will be dri v-
ing t he primary of Tl. The
standby mode produces enough
power to "tu ne" t he driver to the
coil's resonant frequency before
the wire, eddy cu r rents induced
in nearby objects by t he field of
the coil, and so on.
Series RLC circuits have rela-
tively low impedances when oper-
ated at the resonant frequency.
The coil used in t his project.
when operated at its resonant fre-
quency, looks like a 450-ohm re-
sistive loa d to the solid-state
driver. Series RLC circuits pro-
duce high voltages on the induc-
tor and capacitor at the resonant
frequency. The hi gh voltage is
due to a high cu rrent flowing
through a high reactance (r e-
member that the inductance is
large and t he capacitance is
small, creating large reactances
in each componen t at a given fre-
quency). That is what produces
t he corona discharge at t he end
of the secondary coil.
The hear t of the driver is ICI,
the SG3524 pulse-width modu-
lat or. The duty cycle is fixed at
about 45 % for best efficiency. The
frequency is controlled by the re-
sistance on pin 6 and the capaci-
tance on pin 7. With the values
s hown. the frequency h a s a
range from 200 to 240 kl-lz. Aflip-
flop inside the chip divides t hat
by 2 so that the effective ou tput of
the driver has a range from 100 to
120 kHz.
The outputs on pins 12 and 13
are 180 degrees out of phase wit h
CJ)
o
Z
o
cr:
I-
U
UJ
uJ FIG. 1-THE SOLID-STATE TESLA COIL
6 can produce sparks as long as 8 inches.
o The ou tput reaches a peak of about
100,000 volts.
34