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Magnifying TransmitterThe magnifying transmitter is an advanced form of Tesla coil, used for the wireless transmission of electrical energy.1 Often cited as Nikola Tesla's greatest invention, this electrical oscillator consists of three inductors: an air-core transformer plus a third coil operated as a base-driven quarter-wave helical resonator. The first 'magnifier' was assembled in New York City in the period between 1895 - 1898.1 In 1899 a larger magnifying transmitter was constructed in Colorado Springs, and used to conduct fundamental experiments in wireless telecommunications and electrical power transmission. Measuring fifty-one feet in diameter, it developed a working potential in the order of 3.5 - 4 million volts and was capable of producing electrical discharges exceeding one hundred feet in length (30.5 meters).2 This oscillator was the basis for Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower project. Reports and Discoveries In normal operation the device is relatively silent, generating a high power electric field, but if the output voltage exceeds the design of the elevated terminal, high-voltage sparks may strike out from the electrode into the air. It is said the Colorado Springs machine produced thunder which was heard from his lab as far away as Cripple Creek. Tesla became the first man to create electrical effects on the scale of lightning. People near the lab would observe sparks emitting from the ground to their feet and through their shoes. Electrical sparks could be observed from the local water main that was used, at times, as a ground connection. The area around the laboratory would glow with a blue plasma corona (similar to the phenomena of St. Elmo's Fire). One of Tesla's experiments damaged a Colorado Springs Electric Company generator by backfeeding high frequency RF into the city's power distribution system. Using extremely low frequency oscillations he attempted to set up standing waves in the earth's electrical potential. Based upon observations made with the device, Tesla reported that a type of Earth resonance can be excited (An example of an earth resonance is the Schumann resonance). Construction and Modeling The layout of the Wardenclyffe magnifying transmitter is fairly well known, based upon Tesla's patents 4,5 and various photographs 3,6 in which the concept was implemented. The magnifying transmitter is not identical to the classic Tesla coil. It has the short thick primary and longer secondary inductors characteristic of the Tesla coil, although their coupling is tighter. Because of this, more aggressive measures have to be taken in terms of primary spark quenching. In addition to the two large-diameter coils comprising the master oscillator, Tesla added a third inductor called the "extra coil." Tesla worked with the magnifying transmitter in a continuous wave mode and in a damped-wave resonant mode. Successful analyses focus on the distributed "transmission line" description of the "extra coil" (rather than the usual lumped-constant analysis). The extra coil or helical resonator is physically separated from the two close-coupled coils which comprise the master oscillator section. The power from the master oscillator is fed to the lower end of the extra coil resonator through a heavy electrical conductor. The magnifying transmitter's base-driven extra coil behaves as a slow-wave helical resonator, the axial disturbance propagating at a velocity of less than 1% up to around 10% the speed of light in free space. The Magnifying Transmitter's axial velocity electromagnetic field is established by the coil pitch and electrical charge propagation speed through the circuit. Related Patents "System of Electric Lighting," Patent No. 454,622, June 23, 1891 "Means for Generating Electric Currents," U.S. Patent No. 514,168, February 6, 1894 "Electrical Transformer," Patent No. 593,138, November 2, 1897 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING MECHANISM OF MOVING VESSEL OR VEHICLES, U.S. Patent No. 613,809, November 8, 1898 SYSTEM OF TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY, U.S. Patent No. 645,576, Mar. 20, 1900 "Apparatus for Transmission of Electrical Energy," U.S. Patent No. 649,621, May 15, 1900 "System of Transmission of Electrical Energy," U.S. Patent No. 645,576, March 20, 1900 On Utilizing Effects Transmitted Through Natural Media, U.S. Patent No. 685,953, Nov. 5, 1901 On Utilizing Effects Transmitted Through Natural Media, U.S. Patent No. 685,954, Nov. 5, 1901 On Utilizing Effects Transmitted Through Natural Media, U.S. Patent No. 685,955, Nov. 5, 1901 On Utilizing Effects Transmitted Through Natural Media, U.S. Patent No. 685,956, Nov. 5, 1901 "Method Of Utilizing Radiant Energy," Patent No. 685,958 November 5, 1901 "Method of Signaling," U.S. Patent No. 723,188, Mar. 17, 1903 "System of Signaling," U.S. Patent No. 725,605, Apr. 14, 1903 ART OF TRANSMITTING ELECTRICAL ENERGY THROUGH THE NATURAL MEDIUMS, U.S. Patent No. 787,412, Apr. 18, 1905 APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING ELECTRICAL ENERGY, Jan. 18, 1902, U.S. Patent 1,119,732, Dec. 1, 1914 References 1 , Hart Brothers, 1982, Ch. 5, ISBN 0910077002 2 Nikola Tesla : Guided Weapons & Computer Technology, Leland I. Anderson, Twenty First Century Books, 1998, pp. 12-13, ISBN 0963601296. 3 NIKOLA TESLA ON HIS WORK WITH ALTERNATING CURRENTS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY, TELEPHONY AND TRANSMISSION OF POWER, Leland I. Anderson, Twenty First Century Books, 2002, pp. 74, 89-90, 107, 111, ISBN 1893817016. 4 APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY, U.S. Patent No. 649,621, May 15, 1900 5 APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING ELECTRICAL ENERGY, Jan. 18, 1902, U.S. Patent 1,119,732, Dec. 1, 1914 6 NIKOLA TESLA COLORADO SPRINGS NOTES, 1899-1900, Nikola Tesla Museum, Beograd, 1978. External Links and Resources
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