The Design, Simulation, and Testing of a 3-kW Tesla Coil for Awareness and Educational Purposes

This paper introduces the implementation of a 3 kW Tesla Coil system capable of producing up to 1.5 m discharges meant to form part of demonstration equipment at the high voltage laboratory of Stellenbosch University. The project aims to advance high-voltage awareness and inspire interest in engineering among students through a captivating demonstration of fundamental electrical engineering principles. The project spans research, design, simulation, construction, and testing of the complete Tesla Coil system, comprising four key subsystems: the high voltage supply, primary circuit, secondary circuit, and safety, control and monitoring system. Key design achievements include innovations in HV transformer topology, inductive current limiting, low-pass filter design, uniform ionisation gap design, multi-mini capacitor design, coil design, toroidal capacitor design, as well as safety, control and monitoring system design. The research involves understanding RLC resonance, modelling of potential transformers, characterisation of filters, and insights into principles of uniform field ionisation, inter-winding capacitance, proximity field effects of the skin effect, capacitive coupling, self-inductance, and mutual-inductance of multi-turn coils. These principles are verified through calculation, simulation, and testing. The project successfully realises a Tesla Coil system generating arcs at frequencies and voltages exceeding 150 kHz and 500 kV.