If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #2008
Joined: Tue Mar 03 2009, 05:11AM
Location: USA, Frederick, MD
Posts: 118
I am working on three projects at once. The project number one is the electronic control for the CNC machine.
I want to build a Tesla Coil that would use rectified 120VAC. A frequency generator will excite the secondary coil with a primary coil.
To know when the true resonance of the coil is, the machine would go through a range of frequencies, and than refine it until it decides that the coil is driven at resonance.
As I understand, the primary coil current consumption will increase when the coil is driven at resonance. Correct me if i am wrong.
So my powerful solid-state driven generator will be controlled by the chip. If I am a novice in embedding and I want to solve this problem of tuning with an algorithm programed into the chip, WHAT IS THE EASIEST to program and MOST FIT FOR THE PURPOSE CHIP that I should use in my project? I would also like to know the numeric value of the frequency I am working with.
Can one chip do all the work or is it more efficient to use dedicated frequency generator, coder for the number display and the main microcontroller to tell what frequency to produce, take values in and display the frequency?
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Sounds like a cool design. On the feedback, you're probably better off going with something along the lines of current feedback. With this type of tuning, you don't need any type of digital processing and its almost failsafe. Just look at some of the current feedback schemes that others have used for their DRSSTCs and SSTCs.
Registered Member #2008
Joined: Tue Mar 03 2009, 05:11AM
Location: USA, Frederick, MD
Posts: 118
Any PIC controller that can do the job? The reason why I am asking is because I am thinking of buying parts and building a programmer. I want it to be fairly universal for anything I build.
I am a total novice to the subject but I am sure that I will get it in the near future, as soon as I decide what I want to build. I wonder if some eight-legged creature from the PIC family has enough processing power to take statistics.
-------- I had built a Mozzilini flyback driver, technically a SSTC. It uses two mosfets to excite a flyback from a TV.
Those thins are great.
Now I want to use innovation, make a device that can use 120V rectified to drive the priamry to make the primary more compact and power semiconductors smaller. The primary will be printed right on the board with all the circuitry.
I want the device to tell me the resonance frequency of the secondary.
Sounds futuristic? Well I am just talking, but I need to get started.
Registered Member #1451
Joined: Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:48AM
Location: Boulder, Co
Posts: 661
I don't think a flat primary works very well with a SSTC. As I understand it, you need a lot better coupling.
As far as the PIC, if you get one with a PWM module, I'm sure you could get it to work as it has feedback and bridge drivers built in. You'll still need the driver chips to provide enough current, but the PIC will generate the signals. At 8 or 20 MHz it'll be fast enough as the Fres of your secondary would most likely be in the 100-300kHz range.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
cavemen wrote ...
Any PIC controller that can do the job? The reason why I am asking is because I am thinking of buying parts and building a programmer. I want it to be fairly universal for anything I build.
I am a total novice to the subject but I am sure that I will get it in the near future, as soon as I decide what I want to build. I wonder if some eight-legged creature from the PIC family has enough processing power to take statistics.
-------- I had built a Mozzilini flyback driver, technically a SSTC. It uses two mosfets to excite a flyback from a TV.
Those thins are great.
Now I want to use innovation, make a device that can use 120V rectified to drive the priamry to make the primary more compact and power semiconductors smaller. The primary will be printed right on the board with all the circuitry.
I want the device to tell me the resonance frequency of the secondary.
Sounds futuristic? Well I am just talking, but I need to get started.
If you're going the PIC route, forget about just a programmer.
Get the ICD-U64 from CCS. Its a low-cost In-Circuit USB connected Debugger / Programmer thats only $75.00. And also get one of the CSS PIC C Compilers. They have different options to fit any budget.
Registered Member #882
Joined: Sat Jul 07 2007, 04:32AM
Location:
Posts: 103
I don't think a flat primary works very well with a SSTC. As I understand it, you need a lot better coupling.
I'd be more concerned about the price of a PCB big enough to have usefully-large-enough traces for that primary. How wide would those traces have to be? Seems simpler and cheaper to use wire IMO. Coupling isn't going to matter if the primary-traces get blown off the board on 1st-light
Registered Member #2008
Joined: Tue Mar 03 2009, 05:11AM
Location: USA, Frederick, MD
Posts: 118
it isn't important how the primary would look like
all i want you to suggest me is a good PIC to use in my project
Are there any 18 pin PICs that have the processing power to "tune" the requency following some program of going through the range of frequencies and finding the one that gives out the most <correct me if i am wrong> resistance?
The chip should also give out a numeric value for the frequency and send it to LSD screen through a decoder.
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
I am thinking of my own solid state Tesla Coil
