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Hi Jim, A Magnifier uses a relatively tightly coupled pair of coils (called a driver) that acts mostly as a transformer to develop high current, high voltage RF. The output of the 2-coil driver is directly connected to the bottom of a third coil, called the tertiary coil, through a round conductor, called the transmission line. The transmission line is usually made from 1" or 1.5" diameter copper pipe so as to minimize corona losses. The third coil is usually located some distance from the driver so that it will not be electromagnetically coupled to the driver. The tertiary coil is also topped with what appears to be an overly large toroid. A Magnifier is the complete system of a driver, transmission line, and tertiary coil/toroid. Although Tesla created the first magnifier well over a century ago, a comprehensive theory of operation and a mathematical model did not exist until a few years ago. The theoretical analysis and modeling work was done by an electrical engineering professor in Brazil by the name of Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz. See: Antonio has also developed some magnifier design tools (MagSim and Mrn6) that simplify the magnifier design process. These provide a powerful set of tools for anyone contemplating building a magnifier. Some other sites that you may find helpful in gaining a better understanding of practical magnifier construction techniques include: Although there had been considerable speculation about magnifier performance versus 2-coil systems during the 1980's and 1990's, we now believe that there is no evidence that a magnifier can generate larger sparks than a well designed 2-coil Tesla Coil when both systems are operated at the same power level. Since the theory of operation of both Tesla Coils and Magnifiers are now understood, there is no theoretical reason to believe that a well designed magnifier would outperform a well designed 2-coil system. In fact, because of additional losses, a well designed magnifier will always underperform a well designed 2-coil system when comparing measured spark length versus input power. However, since there are many unique design challenges associated with making a top performing magnifier, many Tesla Coil hobbyists build magnifiers simply for the design challenge. Good luck and best regards, -- Bert --
: Hi Bert!
: What is a tesla mag. system.
: i've seen many pics on the net but hav'nt actually found any definite
: answers to this question. i have built a TC from an NST 15kv & 30ma.
: can i upgrade it to a mag? does a mag. really produce bigger sparks?
: thanks,
: jim
:
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/magnifier.html
http://f3wm.free.fr/tesla/magnifier.html
http://www.easternvoltageresearch.com/teslacoil19.htm
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