BUILD IT YOURSELF
I like to look at patents from the past, and often wonder what the inventor
would have done with modern day hardware. I was recently looking at Tesla
patents that describe the infamous Tesla coil and wondered how Mr. Tesla
would have implemented his concept of wireless energy transmission if he had
access to 21st century electronic parts like transistors and dielectrics. I have
always wanted to build a Tesla coil, but have been put off by the tedium of
tweaking spark gaps and dealing with dangerously high voltages. I decided to
try building something loosely based on the original Tesla coil using much lower
and safer input voltages that could at least be powerful enough to enjoy Tesla
effects such as wirelessly lighting nearby CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) and
to study the concept. This article is a review of how I went about building my
own version of a solid-state tabletop Tesla-like coil using common off-the-shelf
parts. It won't exactly light a city, but it is a lot of fun to play with.
BUILD THE
BaTESLA
COIL
By Matt Bates
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20 April 2014