The resonant transformer has found applications for finding leaks in vacuum systems and igniting gas discharge lamps. Its main application today is cognitive and aesthetic. This is due to difficulties in the selection of high-voltage power, when transmitting it to a distance from the transformer, since the device goes out of resonance, and the Q-factor of the secondary circuit also decreases.
The resonant transformer was created by the outstanding scientist Tesla. This device is designed to generate an electric current of high potential and frequency. It has a transformation ratio. It is several tens of times greater than the value of the ratio of turns of the secondary winding to the primary. The output voltage in such a device can reach over a million volts.
Resonant transformer design
The design of the transformer is very simple. It consists of coreless coils (primary and secondary) and an arrester, which is also an interrupter. The primary winding has three to ten turns. This winding is wound with a thick electrical wire. The secondary winding acts as a high-voltage winding. It has a large number of turns (up to several hundred), and is wound with a thin electrical wire. The device has capacitors (to store the charge). In order to create a resonant transformer with enhanced output power, toroidal coils are used. Designs are created with a primary coil having a flat shape, either cylindrical or conical, horizontal or vertical. There is no ferromagnetic core in such a product. The capacitor with the primary coil forms an oscillatory circuit. A non-linear component is used - an arrester, which consists of two electrodes with a gap. A secondary coil with a toroid (instead of a capacitor) also forms a loop. The existence of interconnected oscillatory circuits forms the basis for the operation of a resonant transformer.
The principle of operation of the resonant transformer
As mentioned above, the transformer consists of a primary and a secondary winding. When an alternating voltage is applied to the primary winding, a magnetic field is generated. Energy (with the help of this field) from the primary winding is transferred to the secondary, which (using its own parasitic capacitance) forms an oscillatory circuit that accumulates the energy given to it. For some time, the energy in the oscillatory circuit is stored in the form of voltage. The more energy enters the circuit, the more voltage is obtained. The transformer has several main characteristics - the coupling coefficient of the primary and secondary windings, the resonant frequency and the quality factor of the secondary circuit. On the basis of the above-mentioned device, such devices as resonant generators have been developed.
