|
Electronic M.
In my limited experience with HV diodes they always fail open. This is based on several diode deaths that I facilitated.
Even if you could get the diodes to fail short I doubt it would help. One of the reasons the original design went to internal
rectifiers was to keep from dealing with AC HV issues. Insulation requirement for AC are much more stringent than DC
because AC will propagate through insulation due to parasitic capacitance.
In my AC HV (~20kV) circuit I can run my finger across an insulated wire (40kV DC rated) and get a blue corona discharge
on my fingertip. This doesn't happen with DC.
And corona kills insulation over time.
As far as Tesla coils, I have built a few to try out. And bought a few more. let's say about seven so far. They can be
pretty impressive if the coil is CW and lower frequency. Low frequency means big for an air coil.
Unfortunately they make a poor choice for lighting plasma. Noisy and hazardous. A hit from a tesla coil may not
hurt you. But it sure isn't pleasant.
Cheers.
|