Topic: How to make a Tesla Coil at home
Tesla Coil –
Tesla coil is an electrical resonant circuit which is based on the theory of resonance. Tesla coils are widely used in 20th century for wireless transmission. But now a days the application of a tesla coil is replaced by the modern technology. But still there is an excitation in the school and college students for making a tesla coil. The circuit of tesla coil is look very much similar to the circuit of a transformer. Like the transformer a tesla coil has also the primary and secondary winding. The primary winding of tesla coil has less number of turns while the secondary winding of tesla coil has large number of turns. Tesla coil has a simple construction and various type of uses which makes it so popular among the students and engineer.
Who invented tesla coil?
Tesla coil is invented by Nikola Tesla in the year of 1899. Nikola Tesla designed the tesla coil for wireless power transfer.
What are the uses of tesla coil?
Tesla coil is mainly used for producing high voltage and wireless transmission of power. The circuit of a tesla coil can generate a high voltage with low current rating. This high voltage will not cause any harm to the human beings because the current is low. This feature of tesla coil makes it unique and safer than any other circuit.
What materials do you need to make a tesla coil?
There are very few components required in making a tesla coil. Tesla coil is a low budget project compare to the other projects. The components are less costly and easily available in the market. Due to this reason tesla coil is small in size and it is less bulky. The main components of tesla coil are –
(1) 28 AWG Copper Wire
(2) 19 AWG Copper Wire
(3) A piece of PVC Pipe
(4) 2N2222A Transistor
(5) 22K Resistor
(6) 9 Volt Battery
Can you built a tesla coil at home?
Tesla coil has a very simple construction and anyone can make the tesla coil easily at home. Only you have to follow some simple steps which are –
(1) Making the primary and secondary winding
(2) Designing the circuit
(3) Giving the power supply to the tesla coil
By following the above steps you can easily make a mini tesla coil at your home. Sometimes tesla coil does not work due to any technical fault. But if you follow all the steps correctly then it will definitely work. Now take a look in all the steps one by one.
Primary Winding & Secondary Winding –
At first you have to take a piece pvc pipe. Here I used a pvc pipe having the length of 15 centimeter and diameter of 2.5 centimeter. Then you have to take the 28 awg copper wire. Now you have to give the turns in the pvc pipe. You have to complete 300 turns in the pvc pipe. This 300 turns will act as a secondary winding of the tesla coil. After completing the secondary winding, you have to make the primary winding of the tesla coil. Primary winding of the tesla coil includes three turns. Take the 19 awg copper wire and start to give the turns over the secondary winding of tesla coil.
The primary winding of tesla coil has 3 turns and the secondary winding of tesla coil has 300 turns. So we can conclude that the ratio of primary winding to secondary winding is 1:100. We all know that the tesla coil is a step up voltage circuit. So the voltage applied to the primary winding will be stepped up. And the secondary winding voltage will be 100 times of the primary winding voltage. Now you may think that, this high voltage may be dangerous for us. But it is absolutely wrong. This high voltage will not cause any problem to you. Because the current in the secondary winding is so less.
Circuit Connection –
Now you have to design the circuit of the tesla coil. To design the circuit you have to follow the steps given below –
(1) At first take the 2N2222A transistor and then connect the one end of the secondary winding with the base of 2N2222A transistor.
(2) Then connect the one end of primary winding with the collector of 2N2222A transistor.
(3) Now take a 22K resistor and then connect the one end of the resistor with the other end of primary winding. Connect the other end of the resistor with the base of 2N2222A transistor.
(4) At last take a 9 volt battery and connect the negative terminal of battery with the emitter of 2N2222A transistor. Connect the positive terminal of battery with the 22k resistor.
These are the main important steps which you have to follow during the circuit connection. For better understand of the circuit you can go through the circuit diagram below –
Now the circuit connection is completed. After this we have to test the tesla coil. For this purpose we use a light bulb. Give the power supply to the tesla coil and take the light bulb closer to the tesla coil. Now you can see the results. The light bulb will start glowing. Even there is no supply to the light bulb, still it will glow. You can do the same experiment with a Led bulb or a tube light. In both the cases result will be same. The Led light and the tube light will start glowing as it comes close to the tesla coil. Now a question comes to your mind that –
How does tesla coil light a bulb?
Tesla coil is responsible for producing high voltage. Due to the high voltage electromagnetic field is produced. This electromagnetic field is responsible for the movement of electron inside a light bulb. As a result the light bulb will start glowing. If we take the light bulb closer to the tesla coil, the bulb will glow with a high intensity. And if we keep the bulb far away from tesla coil, it will glow with a low intensity.
