Nice PC Board Tesla

[alan sailer]

I have run across several printed circuit secondary tesla coils on the web and this is the first that I found impressive.

https://circuitsalad.com/2021/05/30/high-output-pcb-spiral-tesla-coil/

And for all those builders bragging about their primary height to spark length ratios, this one has a ratio of about 6,000x :-)

Cheers.

[futurist]

That's really impressive output
Got me interested in trying building it

[Da_Stier]

Looks impressive indeed.
I find it interesting, how a standard PCB handles the isolation of the secondary voltage.
Would be interesting to see if this performance can be achieved for a long time or only for short pulses, before the PCB fails.


EDIT:
I saw the video and therefore also the Epoxy layer on top of the PCB.
However I still find it interesting how the 6 mil spacing between the windings is enough to prevent arcing on the copper layer. 

[davekni]

He trusts his test equipment, using a stack of three instruments as the ground target for sparks.

With an ECB secondary, it would be possible to adjust winding spacing vs. radius.  Outer turns have higher volts/turn, so could be spaced a bit farther apart.

[Twospoons]

Based on some work I did with pcb coils for Qi chargers, he could improve the primary by splitting it into many thin parallel tracks - but they would need to be "twisted" 180 degrees half way around the loop in order to balance the impedances of the individual tracks so they share current better. This would entail vias and short tracks on the secondary side in order to create the swap over, but a liberal epoxy coat should protect them.
With a single wide track the current tends to flow at the edges - and may even flow backwards along one edge under some conditions, which just wastes power. Based on my simulations in Ansys Maxwell.

[Da_Stier]

He trusts his test equipment, using a stack of three instruments as the ground target for sparks.

I would have sweated blood if it was my equipment, I'm always totally paranoid about something being damaged from my coil.


Greetings,
Michael

[Duane B]

Yes, sweet Tesla coil! Even with the epoxy coating, I'm surprised it does not produce corona discharges from the low-voltage components towards the resonator.