SRSG running with 8/50 NST

I just finished my lively synchronous rotary spark gap, and it's now running with 8kV 50mA NST. It'll service in my 3kVA tesla coil, but then powered with six MOT stack.
Motor itself is from old washing machine pump, 1-phase induction motor. It's converted to synchoronous (salient pole-)operation by Kizmo(x) with 4-axis CNC machine.

Shortly after this clip NST began emit smoke. Some sparks striked from RSG disk, along ground cable to NST's E-screw. This caused also internal sparking, and was probably too much for NST's primary-secondary-insulations. But don't get depressed, there is still six MOT stack coming...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• synchronous
• rotary
• spark
• gap
• tesla
• coil
• RSG
• SRSG
• NST
• MOT

[krankiev]

I don't understand it. Does it serve any purpose other than to look cool and possibly start a fire?

[Laakkonen1]

Yes it does. It is tesla coil equipment, a synchronous rotary spark gap (SRSG). It shorts its terminals synchronously 100 times per second, so it can be used to discharge the tank capacitor into the primary coil in AC charging tesla coil system. It offers the most efficient way to use the tank cap energy when charging with AC.

[krankiev]

That doesn;t make a lotta sense to me. What is it doing other than sparking and discharging capacitors?

[Laakkonen1]

Well, it's not doing anything else. Itself it is a power switch that doesn't present any enormous effects. But tesla coil... it presents!

[HomeDistiller]

if you have a larger disk and the stationary electrodes ether side you wont need the disk off copper and the air that it blows around will help stop your safety gap from holding the arc like that (of just put the gap so the air blows through it)

and the electrodes will need to be alot futher apart than that to stop power arcing with 6 mots

[Laakkonen1]

Yes I'll rebuild almost everything that moves. Copper-to-center screw-insulation in the rotor is far too small for 12kV and that power arcing needs air flow. That safety gap became needless: I will build proper one which must not get interfered by RSG vibration.

[Andrei917]

So this is like closing the spark gap to obtain more current? Then you can increase the power on the primary winding from your tesla coil?

[stevemcd30]

nice setup, and clean, like the Safety Gap. Sounds quieter than some Ive seen here on YT. Good Job

[billmcg980]

It a easy way to produce a frequency in a tank circuit ,it is how the first radio transmiters were built and why you pick up a spark on you radio of a short from a electric fence

[saleall]

that makes a lots of electromagnetic noise.  what the hell is that. lol

[krankiev]

even though I don't understand that completely i get the gist of it. It's pretty awesome

[1krr]

The spark gap is just a switch as used in a Tesla Coil. It is a high voltage switch that dumps the capacitor's energy into the primary coil when the tank caps reach a certain voltage potential. Allows the coil to dump huge pulses, on the order or hundreds of thousands of watts into the primary and time them near the resonate frequency of the secondary coil. Rotary spark gaps like the one here just allow for more precise control of the timing by introducing dwell as a variable.