I built a Tesla Coil for the first phase of my project. The second phase of my project will be focusing on wireless energy, that is why I built a Tesla Coil. A Tesla Coil has the capability of turning on light bulbs without wires attached. I want to research how we can use this energy in our daily lives. If it is safe and clean energy.
My driving question is “How can we power our daily lives using wireless electricity in a way that is safe for us and the environment using a Tesla Coil?”
My art form is Engineering and Design. My Tesla Coil has five major components: A Step up Transformer, Spark gap, Capacitors, a Primary and Secondary coil, and last a toroid. My coil is medium size and is capable of producing twelve thousand volts. Some materials that I used include pvc pipe, 22 gauge copper wire, wood, copper heating tubing, and aluminum ducting.
My project is extremely revolved around math. Every component in a Tesla Coil is supposed to be tuned with the others so it can produce the max voltage. That means every turn and measurement has to be together. The output voltage has to match the capacitors. The capacitors have to match the primary and the secondary.
Nikola Tesla inspired me to do this project. Nikola Tesla was an inventor from the 1800’s. He wanted to provide the world with free electricity. Tesla would do this using a/c (alternating current). He discovered it in 1888. Tesla also invented the tesla coil. What is a Tesla Coil? It is a device that can turn small amount of electricity into thousands of volts.
My first step was to research each component of a Tesla Coil and understand their purposes. My next step was to research a lot of vocabulary I didn’t understand like volts, amperes, heart, etc. Next I started to research schematics. I had no idea what the symbols meant on the schematic so I started to read a book called “Beginners Guide to Reading Schematics”. The book has helped me understand symbols for spark gaps, transformer/power etc. After that I wrote down the supplies I needed. I bought a lot of supplies and it took me a while to get them.
The first thing I built was the secondary coil. This was the most tedious part I had to wrap 22 gauge copper wire around four inches in diameter by twenty inches in height pvc pipe. it took me several hours, but I had help from friends. So I just continued to build after that slowly and eventually thought I was done. When it was time to test I thought I was ready. So we plugged it in and nothing happened, so now I’m going back and am trouble shooting everything. I’m using a Microsoft excel document to help figure if everything is tuned properly. This means that should work properly.In the beginning stages I did not realize that tuning was so important.