Synchronous Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil using a

Hybrid Renewable Energy Source

Done by:

Hiba Saleh (Tesla Coil)

Nawar AlSayyed (Tesla Coil)

Nasr Ahmad (Hybrid Power System)

Abdulwahab Qahtani (Hybrid Power System)

Supervision:

Dr. Awni Jayyousi (Tesla Coil)

Dr. Ammar Al-Natsha (Hybrid Power System)

1 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

 ABSTRACT

A Synchronous rotary spark gap Tesla coil is designed and built. The resulting
device is capable of generating voltages up to 1.5 Million Volts using an air-
core transformer. To achieve this, an asynchronous induction motor was
modified to transform it into a synchronous one with a rotational speed of 1500
RPM. The motor was powered through a hybrid renewable energy system. This
was done in character with the worldwide trend to promote the use of Green
Energy. The Tesla coil produced in this project can be used for various
applications including corona studies, lightning simulations, breakdown voltage
measurements and plasma technologies.

2 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

TABLE OF CONTENTS
NOMENCLATURE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- page|1
ABSTRACT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|3

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|7
1.1 Historical background--- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|8
1.2 What is Tesla coil? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|8
1.3 Types of Tesla coil -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|9
1.4 Objectives of current project -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|11

CHAPTER2: Design and Block Diagram-------------------------------------------------------------------page|12

2.1 Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|12
2.2 Rotary spark gap design----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|13
2.3 Tesla coil design--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|14
2.3.1 Initial voltage Step-up-------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|14
2.3.2 Tesla coil resonant circuit-------------------------------------------------------------------------page|15

CHAPTER3: Implementation and results------------------------------------------------------------------page|21

3.1 Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|16
3.2 Primary voltage Step-up --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|16
3.3 Motor modification and rotary spark gap-----------------------------------------------------------------page|17
3.4 Tesla coil primary circuit --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|25
3.5 Tesla coil secondary circuit-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|27
3.6 Operation and results -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|29

CHAPTER4: Conclusions---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------page|31

3 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.0 : Our Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil..........................................................................................7

Figure 2.1: Block diagram of the system……………….………………………………………………….13
Figure 2.2: A voltage cycle…………………………………………………………………………………...15
Figure 2.3: The rotary spark gap disk design……..………………………………………………………16
Figure 2.4: The interconnections of the two microwave transformers………………….……………18
Figure 2.5: The equipotential surfaces and electric field lines………………………………………....19
Figure 2.6: Wind/Solar hybrid power system……………………………………………………………...20
Figure 2.7: The hybrid power source showing the PV panel and the wind turbine…………............22
Figure 3.1: Microwave oven transformer………………………………………………………………...…23
Figure 3.2: The rotor of the induction motor after being removed from the casing……………...…24
Figure 3.3: An illustration of where the cuts should be done on the rotor………………..……….…24
Figure 3.4: Lathing process. The cuts being made into the motor's rotor……………………………25
Figure 3.5: The acrylic motor disk mounted on the modified motor…………………………….…….25
Figure 3.6: The primary winding in its conical form…………………………………………………..….26
Figure 3.7: The coil after we wound it on the PVC bobbin…………………………………………….....27
Figure 3.8: A closer view of the secondary Tesla coil…………………………………………………....27
Figure 3.9: The aluminum toroid just after fixing with an adhesive…………………………………...28
Figure 3.10: Plasma generated by our tesla coil taken by a multi-frame camera…….…………….29
Figure 3.11: Generated plasma by our tesla coil….………………………………..…………………….30
Figure 3.11: A flower jar placed at the top of the toroid for a more artistic shot………………..…..32

4 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

 Figure 1: Our Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

5 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Historical Background

Nikola Tesla was a Yugoslavian physicist who achieved most of his success as an inventor in the
field of electricity and magnetism in the USA. Among his many inventions are included, a system
of arc lightening (1886), the alternating current motor, power generation and transmission
systems (1888), system of electrical conversion and distribution by oscillatory discharges (1889)
and a generator of high frequency currents (1890) [1]. Tesla was among the first persons to
recognize the importance of alternating current and almost all of his achievements are related to
alternating currents only. In the year 1891, Tesla invented what is by far his most famous
invention: the Tesla coil transformer. This was a device for producing high frequency, high
voltage alternating currents, providing the basis for the wireless transmission of electrical power
[2].

After his invention of the Tesla Coil, Nikola continued his work improving the device and exploring
its applications. In the year 1899, while working at the Colorado Springs Laboratory in America,
he produced a 135 feet long discharge, 200 feet above the earth with a 12 million volt coil. This
led to the overloading of the power line and as a result set fire to the alternator of the Colorado
Springs Electric Corporation. His main purpose behind this invention and further research on it
was mainly for the wireless transmission of electric power.

In recognition of Nikola Tesla‟s contribution to both the pure and applied science fields of
electricity and magnetism, the unit of magnetic flux density has been named after him, “Tesla”.

1.2 What is a Tesla Coil?

A Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer which works on the principle of coupled mode
theory [3]. This theory basically states that two resonant circuits sharing the same resonant
frequency can be wirelessly coupled to large values, enabling significant power transfer between
them. It produces high frequency voltages of very high magnitude from high current, low voltage
input and can be safely used to experiment/demonstrate the physical phenomena associated
with such types of outputs. In a basic tesla coil, the two primary and secondary coils are tuned to

6 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

the same frequency (i.e., natural frequency of both the coils) so as to produce resonance. The
circuit containing inductance and capacitance and very low resistance (LC circuit) is oscillatory in
nature and the frequencies of its oscillations are very large. The natural frequency of oscillations
of LC circuit is given by:

1
𝑓 = 2𝜋 ,
𝐿𝐶

where L is the inductance in Henries and C is the capacitance in Farads. The primary and
secondary coils have frequencies of the order of 50 KHz to 500KHz and are designed in such
away so as to have highest possible Q-factor (lowest circuit loss or lowest bandwidth). If one
inductance is made primarily of an air core step-up transformer, the voltage induced at the other
inductance (or secondary) is very high and since the frequency of alternation of both primary and
secondary is the same, it will also be very high. Such an arrangement is the basis of Tesla coil.
The inductance containing only a few turns of thick copper wire which serves as the primary of a
step-up transformer. The secondary coil of this transformer contains comparatively a larger
number of turns of thinner copper wire and is a narrower coil inside the primary coil. No iron core
is used and enough space is provided between the two coils in order to prevent sparking. One
end of both the primary and secondary coils is earthed and the other end of the secondary has
such a high voltage that it produces several inches long sparks. Due to the magnitude of potential
being high, the frequency of alteration is also very high and the high frequency alternating
currents tend to travel over the surface of the conductor only. Hence, the current due to the spark
does not pass through the body, thus rendering it harmless. This is the „skin effect‟. In this case,
the secondary capacitance of the coil is predominantly a distributed capacitance (distributed over
the surface of the coil or in our case the Toroid). This capacitance is due to the larger number of
turns and the proximity of each turn in the secondary winding. Thus the secondary behaves much
like an open circuit transmission line. For designing the Tesla coil, the resonant frequency of the
secondary is calculated in such a way that the frequency of operation of the Tesla coil is the
lowest of the resonant frequencies, thus avoiding other resonating modes.

7 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

1.3 Types of Tesla Coils

1) High Power Vacuum Tube Tesla Coil

This device produce arcs and sparks quite unlike the damped spark gap driven Tesla coils.
Operation does not require a noisy spark gap that produces copious amounts of RFID radio
frequency interference but operates efficiently at the quarter wave frequency of the secondary
coil. The circuit of the vacuum tube device is nothing more than a high powered Hartley radio
frequency oscillator tuned to the resonant frequency of the secondary coil. The circuit uses a
medium powered 833A triode transmitting tube that inherently has a high grid to plate
capacitance. The output of the oscillator is relatively closely coupled to the secondary coil
designed for high Q performance and self resonant to the 1/4 wave of the oscillator frequency. A
pulse signal controls the grid of the tube allowing a wide range of spark texture variation by
changing the duty cycle and frequency.

2) Easy to Build Table Top Tesla Coil

This device Produces 8-12" of visible lightning-like discharges. Fully adjustable and customable
and transmit wireless energy, materials glow, disintegrate, burn, ion motors, induction fields, ion
motors, induction fields, amazing and spectacular special effects.

3) Medium Power Tesla Coil

Discharges 500,000V and intended for 12V DC/ 115V AC battery. Safe at high frequencies with
adjustable outputs.

4) Solid State Tesla Coil and Jacobs Ladder

A solid state Tesla coil works much like a (VTTC), except with semiconductors. It simply runs the
secondary at its resonant frequency. Also we can use a constant oscillator, a feedback controlled
oscillator, or even a mix between both. High frequency (SSTC's) can use crystal oscillators with
several stages of amplification.

8 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

5) Rotary spark gap Tesla Coil (RSG)

A spark gap Tesla coil uses a high voltage transformer, to charge up a high voltage capacitor.
When this capacitor gets charged up to a high enough voltage (this breakdown voltage depends
on the spark gap distance, unless a rotary spark gap is used) the air in between the gap ionizes,
and a spark will act as a short. This will trigger oscillations in the primary, and when tuned
correctly will be oscillating at the same frequency as the secondary's resonant frequency. This is
when you will achieve maximum spark length.

Other types also exist and include:

1) Asynchronous rotary spark gap Tesla coil.

2) Synchronous rotary spark gap Tesla coil.
3) Dual resonant solid state Tesla coil.
4) Off line Tesla coil.
5) SIDAC/IGBT Tesla coil.
6) Triggered spark gap Tesla coil.

1.4 Objectives of the current project

The objective of the current project is to build an asynchronous rotary spark gap Tesla coil and
operate its motor from a renewable energy source. The process will required modifying an
asynchronous induction motor to achieve an RPM of 1500. The ultimate objective is to produce
voltages higher than 1 Mega Volt and to produce plasma streams with high power densities.

9 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

Chapter 2: Design and Block Diagram

2.1 Overview

The rotary spark gap Tesla coil is comprised of multiple elements that operate in a
closely organized way to achieve the required voltage amplification. The block
diagram of the system is shown in Figure 2.1.
Inductive Ballast

Secondary Coil

Microwave Oven
Transformer

Primary HV
Capacitor

8000V

Primary Coil
Synchronous Motor
Rotary Spark Gap

Figure 2.1: Block diagram of the system. The primary windings of the microwave oven transformers are
connected in parallel while the secondaries are connected in series.

10 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

The two main elements of the device are:
a) The rotary spark gap
b) The Tesla coil.

The first of these is comprised of a motor with a number of electrodes that are
shorted with each other. These rotating electrodes ensure that the low-voltage side
sparks are generated and then forcefully turned off through the motion of the motor.
To achieve maximum power output through the Tesla coil, the motor should
operate in a synchronous fashion. However, synchronous motors are not readily
available, and a modification of a typical asynchronous induction motor will be
necessary to transform it into a synchronous one.

The second main part of the block diagram concerns the actual tesla coil. This
includes the primary and secondary resonant circuits, in addition to the initial
voltage step-up transformers. These will be necessary to enable the sparking
through the motor's disk electrodes. These different parts will now be discussed on
a theoretical level, leaving details of implementation to the next chapter.

2.2 Rotary Spark Gap Design

A Tesla coil can only operate at an AC frequency, typically in the KHz range. Most
Tesla coils operate somewhere between 50KHz and up to 500KHz. To transform
the 50Hz power available from the usual electrical outlet, one can employ a spark
gap. Here, the voltage is first stepped-up using a high voltage transformer. The
output is led to the electrodes of a small gap. Due to the high voltage present, the
air within the gap suffers from breakdown. An arch is then produced, which
effectively corresponds to a sudden short circuit across the gap's electrodes. The

11 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

effect of such air-breakdowns is to produce a multitude of signals across a large
frequency spectrum. If these signals are confined within a resonant circuit,
effectively operating as a filter, only one frequency is bound to dominate. However,
if the electrodes across which the spark appears are immobile, a phenomenon
known as spark-quenching failure often occurs. In this case, the spark fails to turn
off, providing a continuous short circuit across the high voltage transformers output
and effectively rendering the Tesla coil useless. To overcome this problem, a rotary
gap is used in this project. To achieve this, a synchronous motor is needed. Using
a four pole motor, and knowing that the frequency available from the mains power
source is 50Hz, the rotational speed of the motor is:

120×𝑓
Speed (in rpm)= = 1500,
𝑁

where N is the number of poles (4 in this case) and f is the mains frequency in Hz.
Therefore, within one electric cycle (T=1/50=0.02 second), the motor will complete
half a rotation [ 1500(rpm)*0.02 (sec) /60(sec) ]. Starting from the peak point on a
50Hz waveform, 0.02 seconds would cover three peak points (two positive and one
negative, or vice versa). If the sparking process is achieved precisely at these
points of maximum voltage (whether positive or negative), maximum power can be
delivered to the Tesla coil. This can be realized by using four electrodes equally
distanced around the perimeter of the motor's rotating disk. At 1500rpm, the motor
will require 0.01 second to move from one pair of electrodes to the next, which is
precisely equal to half the electrical period.
0.02s

Voltage 0.01s 0.01s

Time (seconds)

Figure 2.2: A voltage cycle showing the period and the three absolute maximum values occurring.

12 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

The difficulties in finding a synchronous motor in Jordan has motivated us to carry
out a modification on an asynchronous induction motor to transform its operation
into a synchronous mode. This locks the motor's rpm to 1500 regardless of the
load. The modification process will be explained in the next chapter within the
context of the general implementation and realization of the design.

The disk holding the electrodes on the motor's shaft must be made of a highly
insulating material to ensure that no arcing occurs between the electrodes and the
motor itself. Figure # shows the design of the electrode-holding disk which was
later realized using a 10-mm thick acrylic sheet.

200mm

Figure 2.3: The rotary spark gap disk design. At the center, a hole matching the shaft form could be seen,
while the remaining holes will be used for placing the electrodes. It should be pointed out that only four of
these holes will be used. The rest were done to enable experimenting. Every hole has a diameter of 6mm.

2.3 Tesla Coil Design

The design of the Tesla Coil involved two main parts:

1) The initial voltage step-up in preparation for the rotary spark gap operation.
2) The actual Tesla coil responsible for producing voltages in the Mega-
range.

13 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

The design of these two components will be discussed in the following sub-
sections.
2.3.1 Initial Voltage Step-Up

To operate the spark gap needed to generate a wide frequency spectrum, a high
voltage is needed. The value of the voltage required for this objective needs to be
high enough to cause an avalanche breakdown in the air's molecules. The
breakdown voltage of dry air at room temperature is approximately 3000V/mm.
Since the sparking electrodes are actually rotating and vibration is eventually
bound to happen, a good clearance between the electrodes is needed to prevent
collision during rotation. Two millimeters would be sufficient in this application, and
hence a voltage of 6000V at least would be necessary. Practically, and to take into
account mechanical deformations and changes in breakdown voltage levels, a
voltage of 8000Volts would be adequate. A potential as such can be obtained using
microwave oven transformers (MOTs). These ovens step up 220V to a level of
around 2000Volts. To achieve a larger value, the transformers' secondary sides
can be connected in series, while the primaries are connected in parallel. This
would obviously require the use of 4 such transformers. However, and to save on
costs, the design we used in this project was based on the use of MOTs from the
American market. These transformers are designed to operate at 110 Volts and
produce around 2000Volts. When operated from a 220Volt outlet, the transformer
would provide 4000 volts instead. Accordingly, only two transformers are now
needed. The fact that the rated voltage was doubled does not hold any significant
disadvantages in the current context. This is something that will be further
discussed in the implementation chapter.

The microwave oven transformers have one distinct terminal for the high-voltage
output. This is taken with the reference to the chassis of the transformer. To avoid
internal arching between the primary and the chassis, the latter needs to be

14 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

grounded. The 8000 volts are now equally divided around the ground point, and the
possibilities of internal arching are greatly reduced. Figure 2.4 shows the relevant
interconnections of the transformers.

Mains supply, 220V, 50Hz

8000 Volts

Figure 2.4: The interconnections of the two microwave oven transformers providing a total of 8000 Volts.

2.3.2 Tesla Coil Resonant Circuits

The actual Tesla coil consists of two coupled resonant circuits; the primary and the
secondary. Each one of these consists of an inductor and a capacitor operating in
parallel. There are fundamental differences between the elements of the two
resonant tanks. The capacitors in the primary circuit are low-loss high-voltage
capacitors, usually made of polypropylene films. On the secondary side however,
the voltage is tremendously higher than the level which any commercially available
capacitor can withstand. This motivates the use of toroidal capacitors. These
capacitors are made of aluminum duct that is wound round itself creating a toroidal
shape. Two considerations are important when designing the toroidal capacitor.
The first regards the smoothness of the surface of the capacitor. This is
fundamental in reducing corona discharges and enabling higher voltages to

15 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

accumulate on the top of the secondary side of the tesla coil. A simulation of the
toroid's electric field using a special simulation software, COMSOL Mutliphysics,
was carried out. This gives an insight to the distribution of the electric potential
starting from the toroid and extending down towards the ground. This is shown in
figure 2.5.

Figure 2.5: The equipotential surfaces and electric field lines for a simulated tesla coil. This was done using
COMSOL Multiphysics.

2.4 Powering the Synchronous Motor

In light of the worldwide growing concern regarding energy sources, we have

sought to have an element of 'green energy' involved in the current project. This
was realized using a hybrid power supply system involving two renewable energy
sources (solar light and wind). Green power systems as such are considered ad-
vantageous for being clean, pollution-free and inexhaustible. This section assesses
the power performance by hybrid wind/PV module on the roof of the engineering

16 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

faculty building to run the synchronous motor of the rotary spark gap Tesla coil.
Figure 2.6 shows the main system components and the related interconnections
between them.

Figure 2.6: Wind/Solar hybrid power system

The power supply system was designed and sized based on a project study which
was conducted at the beginning of the work. Based on the loads, the supply system
comprises mainly the following components:

 Photovoltaic (PV) Generator: comprises 81 silicon multi-crystalline photovol-

taic modules with a total of 175 watt.
 Wind Turbine: 1000 watt maximum power wind turbine installed on a 8M
height tower.
 Battery Bank: used as a storage backup for electrical energy. The stored
electrical energy is utilized by the loads when needed.
 Wind & Solar Hybrid Controller: 24 volt multifunctional hybrid solar/wind con-
troller combines the functions of AC to DC rectifier, load control and dump
load control for wind and/or solar systems.

17 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

  AC coupling inverter: utilized to convert solar energy incident on the surface
of PV generator together with wind energy harvested by the wind turbine into
230V AC.

The overall efficiency of the system depends on the efficiency of the wind/sunlight-
into-DC and the DC-into-AC conversion efficiencies and its loading, which is a de-
terministic quantity in context of the current project. The efficiency of the inverter
varies with the load level. Although this relation is dissimilar for each inverter, a
conventional model has a load/efficiency curve similar to the results. Therefore, a
key consideration in the design and operation of inverters is how to achieve high
efficiency with varying power output.

During the past few years, a number of „mini-inverters‟ specifically in the range of
hundreds watts nominal rating have become available in the market. These devic-
es, which in consequence convert hybrid wind/PV modules into sine wave genera-
tors, have the possible advantage of totally abolishing shading and mismatch
losses from hybrid systems [15]. The inverter is the electronic centre of the hybrid
installation. An inverter is an electronic device that converts the DC electricity from
the hybrid module into 230VAC current.

An inverter obtains the DC input and runs it into a couple (or more) of power
switching transistors by quickly twisting these transistors on and off, and supplying
opposite sides of a transformer. The transformer switches this DC input to rotate
sides into an AC output, which may extinguish a simple square wave, a “quasi-
sine” wave, or a true sine wave depending on the intricacy of the inverter. Quasi-
sine specifically known as modified sine, modified square wave inverters have
more circuitry further than the simple switching, and extinguish a wave that seem to
be a stepped square wave – it is appropriate for most standard appliances, but
could not work well with some electronics or appliances that electronic heat or
speed control, or uses the AC clocks or a timer [16].

The perfect hybrid system would supply electricity with purely sinusoidal waveforms
18 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil
(unity power factor) at the maximum power accessible from the solar radiation at
the precise location of the PV system modules, with no losses in the conversion
and power conditioning system. In real conditions, the PV system contains a Maxi-
mum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) which makes the PV system output with the in-
tention of preserving the system operating at the maximum power as much as
possible. Though, the maximum power highly depends not simply on the variability
of the external conditions such as the solar irradiance, but also on the parameters
of the electrical system seen from the point of load. Hence, the MPPT performs a
continuous updating of the operating point of the PV generator, which causes the
rise of voltage and current variations, corresponding to ripples in the time evolution
of voltage and current at the dc side of the inverter. These ripples are easily identi-
fied after ontaining the dc voltage and current waveforms and eventually help cha-
racterize the PV system behaviour at the dc side.

Figure 2.7: The hybrid power source showing the PV panel and the wind turbine.

19 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

Chapter 3: Implementation and Results
3.1 Introduction

The current chapter will explain the way in which the design set forth in Chapter 2 was realized.
Every component of Tesla's high voltage transformer will be discussed in a separate section.

3.2 Primary Voltage Step-Up

As explained in chapter 2, a voltage of around 8000Volts will be required to operate the rotary
spark gap. This voltage was achieved using microwave oven transformers rated for the American
market; i.e. with a primary voltage rating of 110V. When operated at 220Volts, these transformers
produce 4000Volts; twice the secondary's rated value. Experimentally, the use of 220Volts on
these transformers has not proven detrimental. The explanation of this is two-fold. First, the
primary side of the transformer is designed to withstand a higher current than it needs to deal
with in a 220-Volt system. This is due to the lower gauge (thicker wire) used on the primary
windings. Secondly, the insulation used between the secondary windings and the transformer's
chassis is clearly high enough to withstand twice the rated voltage. No arching was observed
even after prolonged usage.

Figure 3.1: Microwave oven transformer

The transformers' primary sides are fed through an inductive ballast which is
basically another microwave oven transformer whose secondary side has been
shorted out.

20 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

3.3 Motor Modification and Rotary Spark Gap

To achieve the best firing rate at the voltage maxima points, a synchronous motor is needed. As
this wasn't readily available, a single-phase asynchronous induction motor was first acquired.
This motor was rated to 1450 RPM. We then modified this motor to transform it into a
synchronous one with an RPM of 1500. The modification is done by lathing flat cuts in the rotor at
four equally distant locations. The width of every cut is 5% of the rotor's outer perimeter. We
marked the locations and widths of the intended cuts using a string. Figure 3.3 shows where the
cuts need to be done, while figure 3.4 shows the actual lathing process.

Figure 3.2: The rotor of the induction motor after being removed from the casing.

the cuts should be

here

Figure 3.3: An illustration of where the cuts should be done on the rotor.

21 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

 Figure 3.4: Lathing process. The cuts being made into the motor's rotor.

Following the lathing process, the motor's speed was measured using a tachometer and it was
precisely equal to 1500RPM. As explained in chapter 2, this will enable the operation of the tesla
coil with maximum power output and maximum voltage. Next, a specially designed rotary disk
was mounted on the motor's shaft. This disk was designed using AutoCAD and cut using a CNC
machine and a 10-mm thick acrylic sheet. Four aluminum electrodes where fixed to the rotating
disk, all shorted together, while two fixed electrodes where positioned in front of the disk. A
distance of approximately 2mm was left between the fixed electrodes and the rotating ones.
When operated, the firing was continuous, indicating synchronous rotation. If the speed of the
motor shifted even slightly from 1500RPM, the firing would only occur in certain time intervals.

Figure 3.5: The acrylic motor disk mounted on the modified motor.

22 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

3.4 Tesla Coil Primary circuit

The primary circuit of the Tesla coil is basically a resonant tank capable of withstanding
8000Volts. Polypropylene HV capacitors were used in conjunction with a conically shaped
inductor. The conical inductor was chosen for its superior qualities when compared to flat spiral
inductors and helical inductors. Flat spiral geometries suffer from low coupling values between
the primary and the secondary, while helical inductors have their uppermost turn dangerously
close to the Tesla Coil's toroid. The latter case might cause arching between the secondary and
primary sides of the tesla coil with the potential of destroying the HV capacitors. The primary
circuit is designed to achieve a resonant frequency of 230KHZ. This frequency is dictated by the
secondary side of the Tesla Coil. The capacitors we used were rated at 2000Volts and
330nFarad. Hence, and to withstand the 8000Volts (RMS), a series of 6 capacitors at least is
needed. The reason is that such capacitors are rated for maximum voltages and not RMS
voltages. This effectively means that the maximum voltage which these capacitors will face is:
2 × 8000 = 11,312 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡. To better protect the capacitors from voltage surges, 8 capacitors
where used providing a total capacitance of approximately 40nF. Being connected in series, each
capacitor will have 1.4kVolts across its terminals (11,312/8). This is well below the maximum
rated voltage.

As regards the primary inductor, 1/8 inch copper tubing was used. This is necessary in the
presence of the skin effect, as the current only runs within a small thickness of the external
surface of the conductor. The use of stranded copper wires is not particularly suitable for this
application as conductive losses would significantly affect the performance of the Tesla Coil. The
primary windings are mounted on wooden supports specially designed for this purpose. The coil
contained 10 windings providing a total inductance of 12μH. Along with 40nF, the resonant
frequency is 230 KHz; the frequency we desire.

Figure 3.6: The primary winding in its conical form.

23 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

3.5 Tesla Coil Secondary Circuit

Like the primary side, the secondary side of the Tesla coil is a resonant circuit. The coil was built
on a PVC tube with a diameter of 4 inches. The tube used was deliberately chosen to be white,
as black tubes contain carbon elements that can prove to be lossy in the presence of intense
electric and magnetic fields. We built an elementary winding jig and completed 1500 turns for the
secondary coil. This was then varnished to reduce corona losses and provide an adhesive to hold
the coil in place. The total inductance was around 15mH, measured on an RLC meter. With ten
turns on the primary, the ratio of turns between both sides of the circuit is 150. With 8kVolts on
the primary conical coil, the secondary should be able to produce 1.2MegaVolt (RMS) and a peak
value of 1.7MegaVolt.

Figure 3.7: The coil after we wound it on the PVC bobbin. This includes approximately 1500 turns.

Figure 3.8: A closer view of the secondary Tesla coil.

24 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

The capacitance on this secondary side has two sources. The first of these is turn-to-turn
capacitance, which is a parasitic effect of the secondary windings. Secondly, a toroidal structure
was used at the top of the Tesla secondary providing capacitance with reference to ground. The
toroid was built with a 4-inch aluminum tube. The toroid's outer diameter is 60cm. The
corrugations on the toroid's surface were resolved using acrylic filler, which was later covered up
with aluminum tape. To double the effect of the toroidal capacitance, two toroids were used over
each other. This improved the performance noticeably, with longer plasma arcs being generated.

Figure 3.9: The aluminium toroid just after fixing with an adhesive.

3.6 Operation & Results

The Synchronous rotary spark gap Tesla coil was operated first through the main electrical outlet.
The total current drawn for both the modified synchronous motor and the step-up transformers of
the tesla coil was around 15A. The firing of the rotary spark gap was continuous, and plasma
arcs of a maximum length of 54cm were achieved. This distance is indicative of the voltage at the
toroid, which is approximately 1.5Million Volts (This is based on the fact that every 1mm of air
needs 3kV to reach the breakdown condition and transform into plasma). At this length, the
sparks are purple streams that are most evident at the edges of the striking electrodes. To control
the arcing position, a wooden rod was used with a grounded wire attached to one end. This way,
streams of plasma could be ignited from different locations around the Tesla coil's top. Following
30 minutes of continuous operation, the transformers were inspected, but none showed
significant signs of overheating. However, the electrodes used in the sparking process were
somewhat worn out due to the intense heat. Below are a number of photos detailing the

25 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

operation of the tesla coil. They show different photographs of the plasma generated by our tesla
coil.

Figure 3.10: Plasma generated by our tesla coil taken by a multi-frame camera.

26 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

 Figure 3.11: Generated plasma by our tesla coil, and in the lower right corner, the modified motor firing
continuously.

27 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

 Figure 3.10: A spectacular view of the plasma streams as they cut their way through the air.

28 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

 Figure 3.11: A flower jar placed at the top of the toroid for a more artistic shot.

29 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

Chapter 4: Conclusions
The project was successful in building a synchronous rotary spark gap Tesla coil capable of
producing voltages in the vicinity of 1.5MVolt. The advantages of our tesla coil are as
follows:

1) High voltage levels can be produced enabling the employment of this device in studies of
breakdown voltages of both solid materials and gases. Additionally, this device could be
used to study Corona effects and to simulate lightning.

2) High power levels were achieved with a total input power larger than 2KWatts. This
could be observed by the relatively thick arcs produced by the secondary side of the Tesla
coil.

3) The use of 120Volt rated microwave oven transformer has proved to be extremely
beneficial to the current project. We believe this is an innovative use of such transformers.

4) The use of a renewable energy source to operate the motor of the rotary spark gap is in
character with the worldwide trend towards green energy and the preservation of the
environment.

The disadvantages of the system can be listed as follows:

1) The rotary spark gap produces high noise levels.

2) The arcing process produces some ultraviolet radiation which one should not be sub-
jected to for long periods of times.

To better enhance this project, the following needs to be done as future work:

1) More microwave oven transformers could be used to increase the potential on the prima-
ry side, which would ultimately lead to higher potentials on the secondary and hence longer
plasma streams.

30 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

2) The transformers could be placed inside an oil container to better protect them in the case
of prolonged use from the possible dangers of overheating.

3) A better quality of capacitors with lower dielectric losses could be used. This would in-
crease the quality factor on the Tesla coil's resonant tanks and hence provide better arcing.

31 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil

REFERENCES
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32 Rotary Spark Gap Tesla Coil