A HIGH-POTENTIAL TESLA COIL IMPULSE GENERATOR FOR LECTURE DEMONSTRATIONS AND SCIENCE EXHIBITIONS

Demonstrations of high voltage phenomena are among the most spectacula r and visually beautiful illustrations of physics. Here, we describe a high potential generator (several hundred thousand volts) which is ba sed on a resonant transformer, derived from a standard Tesla coil arra ngement with high & secondary coil. Control electronics have been impl emented that allow the user to command single shot discharges, should they be required for a particular demonstration. We review the behavio r of a coupled resonant system with relevance to the spark-gap excited Tesla circuit implemented in our generator. The importance of the Q f actor in the secondary coil design is emphasized, but only with due re gard to other design factors including the coupling coefficient and pr imary spark-gap, which in certain configurations can outweigh the bene fits of achieving very high Q. (C) 1997 American Association of Physic s Teachers.