How to make a Tesla coil with your own hands. Bifilar Tesla Coil

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Today I’ll tell you about a miniature transistor Tesla coil, this circuit is also called a kacher.

The device creates a high-frequency high-voltage field in which various gas-filled lamps (for example, lamps) light up wirelessly daylight). Also, at the end of the secondary winding, a beautiful high-voltage spark is formed that you can touch without fear of getting an electric shock!

First you need to wind a high-voltage coil (L2), for the frame you can use anything in the form of a tube with a diameter of 3-10cm, for example sewer pipes, you also need a copper wire in enamel with a thickness of 0.1-0.3 mm, you can get it from various radio-electronic devices or buy it on the radio market.

After you have acquired the wire, you need to wind it onto the frame turn by turn without overlaps or significant gaps, about 1000 turns, at least 600. Next you need to insulate and secure the winding, you can, of course, wrap the coil with tape or tape, but it doesn’t look very good, I recommend varnish the winding in several layers.

The primary winding (L1) is made with a thicker wire, 0.6 mm or more, 5-12 turns, the frame for it is selected at least 5 mm thicker than the secondary winding.

Now let's collect simple diagram, the transistor can be almost any NPN, it is possible and PNP, you will only need to change the polarity of the power supply, in my case it is an imported BUT11AF (it was chosen because it was closest to the table :-), from the Russian ones KT819, KT805 are well suited.
The power supply for the camera is any 12-30V power supply with a current of 0.3A.

And so the parameters of my tesla coil:
Secondary - ~700 turns of 0.15mm wire on a 4cm frame.
Primary - 5 turns of 1.5mm wire on a 5cm frame.
Power supply – 1.2-24V with current up to 1A.

Now about the setup, we put some kind of lamp on the coil to know exactly when the kacher is working, set the resistors to the middle position, apply power, turn the resistor from positive to base, if nothing happens, you need to reverse the leads of the primary winding and repeat the operation, it should work, Now you can rotate the resistor from minus to base, stretch/compress the turns of the primary, select their number, etc.

In 1997, I became interested in the Tesla coil and decided to build my own. Unfortunately, I lost interest in it before I could launch it. A few years later I found my old spool, re-calculated it a bit and continued building. And again I abandoned her. In 2007, a friend showed me his reel, reminding me of my unfinished projects. I found my old spool again, counted everything and this time completed the project.

Tesla Coil- This is a resonant transformer. These are basically LC circuits tuned to one resonant frequency.

A high voltage transformer is used to charge the capacitor.

As soon as the capacitor reaches a sufficient charge level, it is discharged into the spark gap and a spark occurs there. Happening short circuit primary winding of the transformer and oscillations begin in it.

Since the capacitance of the capacitor is fixed, the circuit is adjusted by changing the resistance of the primary winding, changing the point of connection to it. At correct setting, very high voltage will be at the top of the secondary winding, resulting in impressive discharges in the air. Unlike traditional transformers, the turns ratio between the primary and secondary windings has virtually no effect on the voltage.

Construction stages

Designing and building a Tesla coil is quite easy. For a beginner it seems challenging task(I found this difficult too) but you can get a working coil by following the instructions in this article and doing a little math. Of course, if you want a very powerful coil, there is no way other than studying the theory and doing a lot of calculations.

Here are the basic steps to get started:

  1. Selecting a power source. The transformers used in neon signs are probably best for beginners since they are relatively cheap. I recommend transformers with an output voltage of at least 4 kV.
  2. Making a spark gap. It could be as simple as two screws a couple of millimeters apart, but I recommend using a little more force. The quality of the arrester greatly influences the performance of the coil.
  3. Calculation of capacitor capacity. Using the formula below, calculate the resonant capacitance for the transformer. The capacitor value should be about 1.5 times this value. Probably the best and most effective solution There will be an assembly of capacitors. If you don't want to spend money, you can try making a capacitor yourself, but it may not work and its capacity is difficult to determine.
  4. Manufacturing of the secondary winding. Use 900-1000 turns of enamel copper wire 0.3-0.6mm. The height of the coil is usually equal to 5 times its diameter. PVC drainpipe may not be the best, but available material for the reel. A hollow metal ball is attached to the top of the secondary winding, and its bottom is grounded. For this, it is advisable to use a separate grounding, because When using common house grounding, there is a chance of damaging other electrical appliances.
  5. Manufacturing of the primary winding. The primary winding can be made from thick cable, or better yet from copper tube. The thicker the tube, the less resistive losses. A 6mm tube is sufficient for most reels. Remember that thick pipes are much more difficult to bend and copper will crack if it is bent too many times. Depending on the size of the secondary winding, 5 to 15 turns at 3 to 5 mm pitches should be sufficient.
  6. Connect all the components, set up the coil, and you're done!

Before you start making a Tesla coil, it is strongly recommended that you familiarize yourself with the safety rules and working with high voltages!

Also note that transformer protection circuits were not mentioned. They have not been used and there are no problems so far. The key word here is yet.

Details

The coil was made mainly from those parts that were available.
These were:
4kV 35mA transformer from neon sign.
0.3mm copper wire.
0.33μF 275V capacitors.
I had to buy 75mm drainpipe PVC and 5 meters of 6mm copper tube.

Secondary winding


The secondary winding is covered with plastic insulation on top and bottom to prevent breakdown

The secondary winding was the first component manufactured. I wound about 900 turns of wire around drain pipe height about 37cm. The length of the wire used was approximately 209 meters.

The inductance and capacitance of the secondary winding and the metal sphere (or toroid) can be calculated using formulas that can be found on other sites. Having these data, you can calculate the resonant frequency of the secondary winding:
L = [(2πf) 2 C] -1

When using a sphere with a diameter of 14 cm, the resonant frequency of the coil is approximately 452 kHz.

Metal sphere or toroid

The first attempt was to make a metal sphere by wrapping a plastic ball in foil. I couldn't smooth out the foil on the ball well enough, so I decided to make a toroid. I made a small toroid by wrapping aluminum tape around a corrugated tube rolled into a circle. I couldn't get a very smooth toroid, but it works better than a sphere because of its shape and the larger size. To support the toroid, a plywood disk was placed under it.

Primary winding

The primary winding consists of copper tubes with a diameter of 6 mm, wound in a spiral around the secondary. Inner diameter windings 17cm, outer 29cm. The primary winding contains 6 turns with a distance of 3 mm between them. Due to the large distance between the primary and secondary windings, they may be loosely coupled.
The primary winding together with the capacitor is an LC oscillator. The required inductance can be calculated using the following formula:
L = [(2πf) 2 C] -1
C is the capacitance of the capacitors, F is the resonant frequency of the secondary winding.

But this formula and calculators based on it give only an approximate value. Right size The coil must be selected experimentally, so it is better to make it too large than too small. My coil consists of 6 turns and is connected on the 4th turn.

Capacitors


Assembly of 24 capacitors with a 10 MΩ quenching resistor on each

Since I had a large number of small capacitors, I decided to collect them into one large one. The value of capacitors can be calculated using the following formula:
C = I ⁄ (2πfU)

The capacitor value for my transformer is 27.8 nF. The actual value should be a little more or less than this, since fast growth voltage due to resonance may damage the transformer and/or capacitors. Quenching resistors provide some protection against this.

My capacitor assembly consists of three assemblies with 24 capacitors each. The voltage in each assembly is 6600 V, the total capacity of all assemblies is 41.3 nF.

Each capacitor has its own 10 MΩ quenching resistor. This is important because individual capacitors can retain a charge for a very long time after the power has been turned off. As you can see from the figure below, the capacitor voltage rating is too low, even for a 4kV transformer. To work well and safely it must be at least 8 or 12 kV.

Arrester

My arrester is just two screws with a metal ball in the middle.
The distance is adjusted so that the arrester will spark only when it is the only one connected to the transformer. Increasing the distance between them can theoretically increase the spark length, but there is a risk of destroying the transformer. For a larger coil it is necessary to build an air-cooled arrester.


The Tesla coil, which bears the name of the inventor, is an oscillating circuit that consists of two coils. It allows you to obtain a current of high rating and frequency.

So, what do we need:
- switch;
- 22 kOhm resistor;
- transistor 2N2222A;
- connector for crown;
- PVC pipe 8.5 cm long and 2 cm in diameter;
- 9 volt crown;
- copper wire with a cross section of 0.5 mm;
- a piece of laminate;
- glue gun;
- soldering iron;
- a small piece of wire 15 cm long.


First of all, we must wind the copper wire onto the PVC tube, departing from the edges by approximately 0.5 cm. In order to prevent the wire from unwinding at first, the author of the idea advises fixing its end with paper tape.




After we have wound the wire, we also fix the second end with paper tape so that the wire does not wrap. Cut the end of the wire with wire cutters. The reel is ready.






Now you need to glue it to the base of a piece of laminate with a glue gun.




On a piece of laminate we also glue the switch, transistor and crown connector.








Let's move on to connecting the wires. We solder the lower copper wire coming from the coil to the middle contact on the transistor.






We also solder a resistor to the middle contact.


We will need a piece of wire for the secondary winding. We wrap it twice around the coil and fix both ends of the wire with hot-melt adhesive on the base.






Solder the upper end of the secondary winding wire to the free end of the resistor.




Solder the second end of the secondary winding wire to the right contact on the transistor. To make work easier, you can use short sections of wiring.


Next, we solder the contacts from the resistor together with the wire from the secondary winding to the contact from the switch.

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The Tesla transformer was invented by the famous inventor, engineer, physicist, Nikola Tesla. The device is a resonant transformer that produces high voltage high frequency. In 1896, on September 22, Nikola Tesla patented his invention as “Apparatus for producing electric currents of high frequency and potential.” Using this device he tried to transmit electrical energy wirelessly over long distances. In 1891, Nikola Tesla showed the world visual experiments on transferring energy from one coil to another. His device spewed lightning and made it glow fluorescent lamps in the hands of surprised spectators. By transmitting high voltage, high frequency current, the scientist dreamed of providing free electricity to any building, a private house and other objects. But, unfortunately, due to high energy consumption and low efficiency, the Tesla coil has never found widespread use. Despite this, radio amateurs from different parts of the world collect small Tesla coils for entertainment and experimentation.

Tesla coils are also used to conduct entertainment events and Tesla show. In 1987, Soviet radio engineer Vladimir Ilyich Brovin invented a generator electromagnetic vibrations, named after him "Brovin Kacher", used as an element of an electromagnetic compass operating on a single transistor. I suggest you collect current model DIY Tesla coils or Brovin kacher from scrap materials.

List of radio parts for assembling a Tesla Coil:

  • Enameled wire PETV-2 diameter 0.2 mm
  • Copper wire in PVC insulation, diameter 2.2 mm
  • Tuba from silicone sealant
  • Foil textolite 200x110 mm
  • Resistors 2.2K, 500R
  • Capacitor 1mF
  • 3-volt LEDs 2 pcs.
  • Radiator 100x60x10 mm
  • Voltage regulator L7812CV or KR142EN8B
  • 12 volt fan from computer
  • Banana connector 2 pcs
  • Copper pipe diameter 8 mm 130 cm
  • Transistor MJE13006, 13007, 13008, 13009 from Soviet KT805, KT819 and similar

A Tesla coil consists of two windings. Primary winding L1 contains 2.5 turns copper wire in polyvinyl chloride insulation with a diameter of 2.2 mm. The secondary winding L2 contains 350 turns in varnish insulation with a diameter of 0.2 mm.

The frame for the secondary winding L2 is a tube of silicone sealant. After first removing the remaining sealant, cut off a part of the tube 110 mm long. Stepping back 20 mm from the bottom and top, wind 350 turns of copper wire with a diameter of 0.2 mm. The wire can be obtained from the primary winding of any old small-sized 220V transformer, for example, from a Chinese radio. The coil is wound in one layer, turn to turn, as tightly as possible. The ends of the wire should be passed into the inside of the frame through a preliminary drilled holes. For reliability, coat the finished coil with nitro varnish a couple of times. Insert a sharpened tool into the piston metal rod, solder the upper terminal of the winding to it and secure it with hot glue. Then insert the piston into the reel frame. Cut off a threaded ring from the spout, you will get a nut with which you can easily secure the coil on the textolite board by screwing the resulting nut onto the thread of the outlet hole of the tube. Drill a hole in the bottom of the frame for the LED and the second winding terminal.

I used an MJE13009 transistor in my coil. Transistors MJE13006, 13007, 13008, 13009 from the Soviet KT805, KT819 and other similar ones are also suitable. Be sure to place the transistor on the radiator; during operation it will get very hot, so I suggest installing a fan and slightly improving the circuit.

Because powering the coil requires a voltage of more than 12 volts. Maximum power The Tesla coil develops at a supply voltage of 30 volts. And since the fan is designed for 12 volts, the voltage regulator L7812CV or the Soviet analogue KR142EN8B should be added to the circuit. Well, to make the coil look more modern and attract attention, let’s add a couple of LEDs of blue color. One LED illuminates the coil from the inside, and the second illuminates the coil from below. The diagram will look like this.

Place all Tesla coil components on a printed circuit board. If you don't want to make a printed circuit board, simply place all the parts of the Tesla coil on a piece of MDF or corrugated cardboard from a paper box and connect them together using the hinged mounting method.

Ready printed circuit board will look like this. One LED is soldered in the center, it illuminates the space under printed circuit board. Make the legs from four blind nuts screwed onto screws.

The second LED is soldered under the coil; it will illuminate it from the inside.

Be sure to coat the transistor and voltage regulator with thermal paste and place it on a radiator measuring 100x60x10 mm. The voltage regulator follows.

The primary winding should be wound in the same direction as the secondary. That is, if coil L2 was wound clockwise, then coil L1 should also be wound clockwise. The frequency of coil L1 must match the frequency of coil L2. To achieve resonance, coil L1 needs to be tuned a little. We do this: on a frame with a diameter of 80 mm we wind 5 turns of bare copper wire with a diameter of 2.2 mm. We solder a flexible wire to the lower terminal of coil L1, and screw a flexible wire to the upper terminal so that it can be moved.

Turn on the power and bring the neon lamp to the coil. If it does not light up, then you need to swap the leads of coil L1. Next, we experimentally select the vertical position of the L1 coil and the number of turns. We move the wire screwed to the upper terminal of the coil down, achieving the maximum distance at which the neon lamp will light up, this will be the optimal range of action of the Tesla coil. As a result, you should end up with 2.5 turns like I did. After the experiments, we make coil L1 from wire in PVC insulation and solder it in place.

We enjoy the results of our labors... After turning on the power, a 15 mm long streamer appears, a neon light bulb begins to glow in your hands.

So, they filmed the Star Wars saga... Here it is, the secret of Jidai's sword...

In a car lamp, a small plasma appears emanating from the filament to the glass bulb of the lamp.

To significantly increase the power of a Tesla coil, I recommend making a toroid from a copper tube with a diameter of 8 mm. Ring diameter 130 mm. As a torroid, you can use aluminum foil crumpled into a ball, a metal jar, a computer radiator and other unnecessary, bulky objects.

After installing the torroid, the coil power increased significantly. A streamer 15 mm long appears from a copper wire located next to the toroid.

And even LED...

And this is the plasma that appears in a car light bulb when it is next to a toroid.

It's up to you to decide whether to make a toroid or not. I just showed and told you about how I made a Tesla coil or a Brovin kacher on one transistor, with my own hands, and what I did. My coil produces high voltage, high frequency current according to the laws of physics. Thanks to Nikola Tesla and Vladimir Ilyich Brovin for their enormous contribution to science!

Friends, I wish you good luck and Have a good mood! See you in new articles!

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