International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology (IJEET)

Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2017, pp. 61–66, Article ID: IJEET_08_03_006

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WIRELESS TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICAL

ENERGY FROM A TESLA COIL USING THE
PRINCIPLE OF HIGH VOLTAGE, HIGH
FREQUENCY RESONANCE - A THEORETICAL
APPROACH
Saiman Shetty
Tesla Motors, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA

Parshad Patel
Knightscope, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA

ABSTRACT
This paper is intended to give a theoretical insight into the theory of construction
and working of the Tesla Coil, which would eventually lead to the Wireless
Transmission of Electrical Energy using the principle of the Tesla Coil. It primarily
describes the work carried out on the Tesla Coil Project by the authors and the
inferences obtained thereof. Finally, it also gives a brief introduction to the
ramifications of the Tesla Coil Concept and its extended applications.
Key words: Wireless Electricity; Resonant Transformer; High Voltage Testing; Tesla
Coil.
Cite this Article: Saiman Shetty and Parshad Patel, Wireless Transmission of
Electrical Energy from a Tesla Coil using the Principle of High Voltage, High
Frequency Resonance - A Theoretical Approach. International Journal of Electrical
Engineering & Technology, 8(3), 2017, pp. 61–66.
http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJEET?Volume=8&Issue=3

1. INTRODUCTION
Advances in Modern Electrical Technology have transformed the world from a wired planet
to a wireless town. The very reason for this is the possibilities of utilizing the properties of the
Electromagnetic wave phenomenon. So much so, that today, almost all wireless
communications happen through signals modulated upon electromagnetic waves. This is due
to the inherent capability of the wave to travel long distances without the requirement of a
medium.
This paradigm, if modified in such a way that it can be applied to large scale electrical
power, would mark the beginning of a new age in the era of wireless technology. It was very
well imagined by Nikola Tesla in late 19th century. His efforts in the area of electromagnetics

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 Wireless Transmission of Electrical Energy from a Tesla Coil using the Principle of High Voltage,
High Frequency Resonance - A Theoretical Approach

and wireless technology have given rise to a plethora of new inventions, a few of which are
the Induction machine and the basics of what lead to the invention of the radio and
electromagnetic pulse warfare.
One such invention, which had received very little recognition by technologists around the
world till recently was the Tesla Coil. Even though it had been used commercially in the field
of wireless telegraphy till 1920, it has stayed ignored when it comes to wireless electricity
transmission. Still under research, the implications and consequences of commercializing this
form of Electricity is still under discussion.
The objective of this paper is to describe the theoretical aspects and outcomes of the
authors' work on the Spark Gap based Tesla Coil project.

2. ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT MODEL

Figure 1 Circuit Diagram of the Tesla Coil

A Spark Gap Tesla Coil is essentially an Air-Cored transformer based on the concept of
High Voltage, High Frequency switching and resonance.
The voltage on the primary side in the project setup is 15,000 volts. This is obtained by
boosting the 230V, 50 Hz supply from the mains to the order of 15,000 volts using a Neon
Sign Transformer with mid-point grounding. Further, the primary circuit consists of a
capacitor bank and a winding, hereafter referred to as the "Primary winding". The main spark
Gap is introduced in series between the terminal of the capacitor and the primary coil. The
safety spark gap is a safety feature present to discharge high frequency kickbacks from the
primary circuit into the ground and to prevent it from entering the supply lines. This is also
done to protect the circuit from the high voltage surges.
The secondary circuit is an inductor capacitor combination, the inductor being a coil of
hundreds of turns per turn on the primary coil, the calculations of which are mentioned later in
this document. The top load consists of a very small capacitance, and along with the stray
capacitance of the inductor, it forms the capacitance of the secondary inductor- capacitor
circuit.

3. THEORY OF OPERATION
3.1. Circuit Action
The output of the Neon Sign Transformer is rated at 15,000 volts/ 50 Hz. The primary circuit
is tuned (The process of tuning is explained later in this document) such that the spark gap
fires when the voltage at the primary circuit reaches 15,000 volts. This ensures maximum
efficiency of circuit operation.

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 Saiman Shetty and Parshad Patel

Once the capacitor bank is charged to 15,000 volts, the voltage is sufficient to ionize the
air between the spark gap terminals and hence, a spark jumps across the gap, thus electrically
completing the circuit. Once the circuit is closed, the inductor comes in parallel with the
capacitor, hence short circuiting the capacitor. This causes instantaneous inrush current into
the inductor which produces the required flux, which in turn links with the secondary circuit.
At the infinitesimal moment of time when the capacitor is short circuited, the voltage
instantaneously falls to zero, thus extinguishing the spark across the spark gap. Now, the
current through the inductor and hence, the flux produced are cut. The capacitor begins to
charge and the entire process repeats. When closed, this circuit behaves as an L-C oscillator
circuit, which boosts the frequency to several times the input frequency, naturally in the order
of kilohertz.
The flux alternating at a very high frequency, produced by the primary coil, links with the
loosely coupled secondary coil.

3.2. Resonance
"Resonance "in an L-C circuit basically means the phenomenon of transfer of maximum
possible energy from the source to the load when the frequency reaches a value where the
inductive reactance equals the capacitive reactance. Hence, only the resistance of the circuit
contributes to the impedance, which is by large the lowest value of impedance that can be
reached in the circuit.
Here, the circuit is tuned such that resonance is reached simultaneously on the primary
and the secondary coils. In the first instant when the spark gap fires and the secondary coil
gets energized, the top load accumulates a certain amount of charge and develops a certain
potential. In the next instant, when the flux is cut, this potential tends to drop. Before it would
have dropped till a certain limit, another upsurge would have been created by the next
sequence of flux linking with it and the amount of charge stored will have increased more
than that stored in the first cycle of energization. This happens several times a second,
depending on the frequency.
Ultimately, a state is reached when the top load can no longer sustain the density of
charges present on it and hence, tends to discharge to the ground. The expulsion of charges
results in strong, bluish-violet corona-like sparks from the top load. The top load is seen as
one plate of a capacitor and the ground as the other plate. The concept of drift current in a
capacitor, here appears in the form of sparks. Better the resonance, stronger will be the sparks.

3.3. Tuning the Tesla Coil

To ensure optimum operation and maximum efficiency, the Tesla coil must be tuned to the
optimum possible extent. The Spark Gap type Tesla Coil is tunable using two main
parameters the spark gap and the primary inductance. For ease of tuning, at an instant it is
always advisable to have one constant and the other varied.
While using the spark gap to tune the setup, the terminals are held near to each other and
then they are moved far from each other gradually till the maximum spark is obtained.
Likewise, to tune the Primary coil, an alligator clip is used to tap the coil at a particular
location. This is then gradually moved and the performance of the setup is observed at
different tapping locations of the coil. The best location is selected.

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 Wireless Transmission of Electrical Energy from a Tesla Coil using the Principle of High Voltage,
High Frequency Resonance - A Theoretical Approach

3.4. Wireless Electrical Energy

This process of discharging is associated with a massive release of strong electromagnetic
radiation, which travels radially outwards from the Tesla Coil.
Hence, the Tesla Coil can be assumed to be a setup capable of "broadcasting" electrical
energy over wireless medium.

4. CONSTRUCTION
The Tesla Coil constructed at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at
NMAMIT, Nitte was designed to be rated at approximately 500W. Almost all the
mathematical calculations related to circuit parameter values were perfromed using the
TeslaMap version 5.7 software. Being the initial experimentation model, the components used
were obtained from most feasible sources, some of them even recycled. A brief description of
them are mentioned below

Neon Sign Transformer

230V / 15,000V, 30mA normal power factor transformer

Primary Coil
10 AWG aluminum GTO wire rated at 150mA. Later improvised to 0.25" diameter copper
tubing spaced at 0.3" from each other.

Capacitor Bank
15 glass soda bottles, wrapped with Aluminum foil and filled with salt water, the salt water
acting as one plate and the foil acting as the other plate, all connected in parallel.
Each capacitor must be rated at atleast 30,000V

Secondary Coil
1293 turns of 26 AWG enameled copper wire wound upon PVC pipe 4" in diameter.

Topload
Preferably Aluminum toroid made of industrial ducting pipe, 4"in internal radius and 16" in
overall diameter.

5. GROUNDING AND SAFETY

Proper grounding of all components via a "grounded stick" must be ensured after each
operation of the Tesla Coil. The entire setup must be placed on grounded chicken wire/mesh.
A Line filter, which is essentially a low-pass filter, should be preferably used at the input to
filter out any high voltage kickbacks and to ensure that the surge does not enter the supply
line. The safety spark gap must be perfectly tuned so as to discharge any possible voltage
surge that shall be created into the ground. The process of tuning of the safety spark gap is
reverse to that of the main spark gap. Here, the gap is held as far as possible and then
gradually brought near. It is stopped at the point where the first instant spark jumps over, and
fixed slightly outward of that location.
The Tesla Coil is a source of high levels of Electromagnetic Radiation. All possible
objects which are subject to adverse effects of radiation must be kept away from the
apparatus.

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 Saiman Shetty and Parshad Patel

6. OBSERVATIONS AND INFERENCE

The Tesla coil, under its maximum possible operable environment, given the resources
present generated sparks of nearly 8", through the protrusion intentionally placed on the top
load for easy discharge.
A fluorescent lamp held wirelessly at a distance up to 3 meters of the Tesla Coil glowed,
with the intensity of light in inverse proportion with its distance from the Tesla Coil. This is
the first proof of the possibility of wireless electricity transmission using a Tesla Coil.
The intense of the electromagnetic radiation from the Tesla Coil was so intense that a
Cathode Ray Oscilloscope at a distance of up to 50 meters from the working setup experienced
interference in the form of unconventional flickering waveforms. This is proof of the level of
electromagnetic shielding that the instruments and gadgets near/supplied by the Tesla Coil
would need to maintain proper safety standards.
An extremely high level of noise would be produced in the spark gap of the Tesla Coil
during its operation which is due to rapid ionization and deionization of air in the spark gap.
The air in the spark gap would convert into plasma and back into the normal state several
times a second. The ionized air comprises largely of ozone and nitrogen dioxide, which needs
to be exhausted from the vicinity for better sparking and switching.
This is done using a small fan, preferably a 12V operable PC cooler fan.

7. RAMIFICATIONS
The concept of the Tesla Coil is a field of current research and development, and the
following are a few of the main possibilities of a Tesla coil other than wireless electricity
transmission in the years to come:
The Plasma Speaker: One of the most interesting innovation underway in the field of High
Voltage Engineering is the use of the concept of the Tesla Coil in speakers often known as
"singing arcs"or a musical Tesla Coil.
A conventional Tesla Coil is one in which the frequency of switching in the arc is within
the humans listening range; due to which large amounts of noise is produced. A Plasma
speaker or a Musical Solid State Tesla coil is one in which an electronic circuit is used to
modulate the music onto a high voltage arc between a spark gap such that the sound is
generally beyond the audio hearing range of humans when no music is modulated, but it is
switched into the audible range when music is modulated onto the spark. This modulation is
done using power electronic circuits.
Using the concept of the plasma speaker, it is possible to generate music of upto several
thousand watts with an incredibly small setup, occupying a much lesser space than what
conventional diaphragm based speakers would be occupying, and giving better efficiencies.
EMP Warfare: Electromagnetic Pulse warfare is assumed to become a very strong strategy of
warfare in the years to come, hence making the present nuclear warfare the less sought after.
This type of warfare is well known for its hazardless influence on the human lives, whereas its
disasterous impact on the electrical and electronic apparatus present at the attacked location.
Once deployed from an altitude of more than a kilometre from any location or city, a
strong electrmagnetic pulse has the capability to cripple the electrical utilities of the entire
city, which may take months together to recover from.
Lightning Simulation and Testing: Large Tesla Coils are used in laboratories for artificially
simulating natural lightning and hence, testing of objects against high voltage arcing and
lightning strikes.

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 Wireless Transmission of Electrical Energy from a Tesla Coil using the Principle of High Voltage,
High Frequency Resonance - A Theoretical Approach

Pseudomedical equipments: Techniques such as Electrotherapy make use of electromagnetic

radiations, which are used to heal/cure/treat certain diseases. These Electromagnetic
radiations can be obtained from a Tesla Coil in a controlled and supervised manner.
Solid State Tesla Coil: Advances in modern technologies like power electronics have made
way into the Tesla Coil. The Solid State Tesla Coil employs power electronic circuits to
perform high frequency switching instead of the switching at the spark gap. This reduces the
amount of heat produced in the circuit and also minimises the sound manyfold. These
generally ensure better performance and efficiency.

8. CONCLUSIONS
The effectiveness of the concept of High Voltage High Frequency resonance principle in a
Tesla Coil in providing Wireless transmission of Electrical Energy is demonstrated. Both
practical and theoretical research in this field are bound to improve the applicability of the
technology in terms of improvement of efficiency, better safety, easy power access and
reduction in costs and expenses in the near future, resulting in convenient reliable and
sustainable energy for the good of all mankind.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank Prof. Suryanarayana K, Assistant Professor at NMAMIT, Nitte for his
guidance in this project. The project was supported by the Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering at the NMAM Institute of Technology, Nitte. The authors also
gratefully thank the tens of people who contributed in any possible way in the completion of
the Tesla Coil Project.

NOTE
A Theoretical Approach: This paper largely is based on the theory governing the technical
inferences obtained by the authors during their work on the Tesla Coil project at NMAMIT,
Nitte.

REFERENCES
[1] Mitch Tilburry, “The Ultimate Tesla Coil Design and Construction Guide,” McGraw Hill
Publication, 2008.

[2] Nikola Tesla, "Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy", January 18, 1902, U.S.
Patent 1,119,732, December 1, 1914

[3] Gopinath, Nithish G Salian, Saiman Shetty, "Tesla Coil Project", June- November, 2011

[4] J. S. Ashwin, S. Sinthuja and Dr .N. Manoharan. A Review on Wireless Power

Transmission, International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering &
Technology, 6 (10), 2015, pp. 01-05.

[5] Omer Gul, An Assessment of Technical and Economical Problems Based on Reactive
Power in Restructured Turkish Power Systems. International Journal of Electrical
Engineering and Technology (IJEET), 4 (5), 2013, pp. 206-220.

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