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4hv.org :: Forums :: Tesla Coils
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Tesla coil windings made out of aluminum wire

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Dr. Dark Current
Thu Jun 16 2011, 04:21PM Print
Dr. Dark Current Registered Member #152 Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
 		Hello,
Aluminum has higher resistivity than copper but also higher skin depth, so the AC resistance in TC use shouldn't be that much different. The advantage is that Al is extremely cheap, the only disadvantage I can think of is that enameled aluminum wire is hard to get...

Do you see any problems with primary and secondary Tesla coil windings made out of aluminum wire?

-Jan
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Sulaiman
Thu Jun 16 2011, 05:37PM
Sulaiman Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140
 		Aluminium wire can't be soldered easily/reliably so some form of clamp/crimp connection will be required.
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Dr. Dark Current
Thu Jun 16 2011, 05:39PM
Dr. Dark Current Registered Member #152 Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
 		You are right, that's another disadvantage of aluminum but IMO not such a big problem.

Can you see any performance disadvantages?
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Sulaiman
Thu Jun 16 2011, 05:52PM
Sulaiman Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140
 		I have heard of transformers, capacitors primary inductors, spark gaps, sstc semiconductors etc. overheating
but not secondary inductors overheating
so I guess any performance hit would be relatively small.

I find that for a close-wound secondary the 'skin-effect' is not as significant as the 'proximity-effect'
and the 'skin-effect' would be proportional to sqrt(resistivity)
sqrt(2.82/1.68) = 1.3 ... not too bad.
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Dr. Dark Current
Thu Jun 16 2011, 06:18PM
Dr. Dark Current Registered Member #152 Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
 		Sulaiman, is the proximity effect dependent on resistivity like skin effect? If not, then the aluminum coil will indeed have considerably higher AC resistance.
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Sulaiman
Thu Jun 16 2011, 06:43PM
Sulaiman Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140
 		Don't know, but from basic theory I'd guess that 'proximity-effect' is not a function of resistivity, just 'fields' and geometry, not even frequency.
(to first-order)
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Dr. Dark Current
Thu Jun 16 2011, 07:32PM
Dr. Dark Current Registered Member #152 Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
 		Thank you. I think I'll use a copper wire, even though it won't be cheap.
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uitvinderalex
Sat Jun 18 2011, 07:22AM
uitvinderalex Registered Member #3662 Joined: Wed Feb 02 2011, 07:20AM
Location: Netherlands, Steyl
Posts: 4
 		The surface resistance (R/m^2) including skin-effect is given as:

Rs=1/(sigma*delta)=sqrt(pi*f*mu_0)/sqrt(sigma)
delta = 1/sqrt(pi*f*mu_0*sigma)
mu_0=4*pi*10e- 7
sigma_copper=6.96e7
sigma_aluminium=3.5e7

These formulas and theory can be found here: Link2

Conclusion: Aluminium has more resistance then copper independent of the frequency.
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Eimac 4-1000
Sun Jun 19 2011, 12:36PM
Eimac 4-1000 Registered Member #3902 Joined: Fri May 20 2011, 08:55PM
Location: Burlington,Wisconsin and Springhill, Florida
Posts: 2
 		I have seen guys use Aluminum flashing for the primary of their tesla coils running 5kva+. (Including myself)You just have to have a good mechanical connection. Buy the way am new to this forum group, but been building conventional SGTC,s for 20 years.


Best Regards Jeff

kd4lyh
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Fabio
Tue Jun 21 2011, 12:08PM
Fabio Registered Member #122 Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 12:55PM
Location: Milano Italy
Posts: 148
 		alluminium is more fragile than copper, wind a secondary coil can be more problematic.

on the opposite way, wind a primary coil with alluminium tube is easier than copper one, so alluminium can be a great option for primary coils.
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