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Registered Member #599
Joined: Thu Mar 22 2007, 07:40PM
Location: Northern Finland, Rovaniemi
Posts: 624
Hi!
I made some time ago Steves MiniSSTC and got it working fairly well after few mosfet explosions. Current spark/streamer lenght is somewhere around 35cm (13.8")
More pictures can be found here:
And short video here:
As always, i want more power. Currently this coil is running around 2kW hard to tell exact power thanks to half wave voltage doubler. I have cranked this up to limits of mosfets (500VDC). Im using 7 primary turns and as tight as possible coupling (tried to rise primary for about 10mm and got flashover -> halfbridge died)
So.. what next? Im thinking about full bridge and real toroid from aluminum ducting. Secondary is pretty small, 110mm in diameter and about 300mm winding height and i have been thinkig about new, maybe 200mm diameter secondary?
Registered Member #599
Joined: Thu Mar 22 2007, 07:40PM
Location: Northern Finland, Rovaniemi
Posts: 624
Thanks! :)
Voltage doubler is made from 30amp block diodes and 220µF 450V capacitors. Like this:
Secondary is wound on 110mm grey PVC pipe with 0.315mm wire. Winding lenght is about 320mm and it resonates with this setup around 300kHz.
Im planning to make new secondary to lower the resonant frequency. Same 0.315mm wire but wound on 370mm x 200mm former. With large topload it should resonate @ 100kHz
Registered Member #989
Joined: Sat Sept 08 2007, 02:15AM
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Posts: 476
Try to make a fullwave doubler, in teory it doesnt make any difference, but I noticed a few changes when using fullwave doubler. Lower Fres gets more sparks/power too, as decrease the primary turns too.
Registered Member #95
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:57PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 1308
Nice SSTC, and great output! You need to keep the doubler if you're going to upgrade to a full-bridge, otherwise the voltage over the primary is the same (assuming both double the voltage) and you gain nothing. I did a SSTC tune-up as well, and the improved coil is much better than the old one, so lower fres and using a full-bridge are the way to go!
Registered Member #33
Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 01:31PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 971
Are you aiming for more power, longer sparks or both?
I see you are running from a doubler, this gives you DC with a lot of ripple on the DC bus. Try changing over to halfwave rectified mains for less power draw with the same lengt or often longer sparks. The lower power means less stress on the FETs, which means you can lower the number of primary turns to bring the power back up and get even longer sparks. Although the power level is similar to before, the peak current will be quite a bit higher. Losing the voltage doubler means the primary voltage will be lower, but with 250V AC from a variac there will be 350V peak on the DC bus, which gives you a nice safety margin. I can also second the recommendation of changing over to full bridge, this should improve the sparklength quite a bit.
Registered Member #599
Joined: Thu Mar 22 2007, 07:40PM
Location: Northern Finland, Rovaniemi
Posts: 624
Anders M. wrote ...
Are you aiming for more power, longer sparks or both?
I see you are running from a doubler, this gives you DC with a lot of ripple on the DC bus. Try changing over to halfwave rectified mains for less power draw with the same lengt or often longer sparks. The lower power means less stress on the FETs, which means you can lower the number of primary turns to bring the power back up and get even longer sparks. Although the power level is similar to before, the peak current will be quite a bit higher. Losing the voltage doubler means the primary voltage will be lower, but with 250V AC from a variac there will be 350V peak on the DC bus, which gives you a nice safety margin. I can also second the recommendation of changing over to full bridge, this should improve the sparklength quite a bit.
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Hungry for more power - sstc
