Display MoreIts good that some people are running simulations ( Tibi.fusion SM6FIE ) - but we do need to ensure that we don't introduce even more confusion.
If I had the skills to use the software, I would have a go too (I'm not an electronics engineer - instead my professional background includes blowing things up and devising gruesome ways to kill people )
As I mentioned further up this thread, I was more concerned about the twin resistor calorimetry technique when I thought the device was being driven by a primary "pumping" oscillator (**). But as R1, C1 & the spark gap are acting as their own oscillator, I am less concerned. After all, even if C1 only partially discharges (and videos show that the discharge level does indeed vary when the input voltage is only marginally above the spark initiation voltage) - that means that an equally partial energy pulse drives the spark.
I'm afraid I don't know how this circuit detail is meant to model the spark gap Tibi.fusion - maybe you can explain the logic in more detail, thanks.
(n.b. (**) It appears that some of the Moray machines used some kind of pumping oscillator to drive the "tubes" - quite possibly using crude forerunners of the Tunnel / Gunn diode (initially his Swedish Stone, and then later a semiconductor "detector" of his own devising). He once claimed that his machine would still run without the peculiar detector, but its oscillations would be very uneven.)
S1 "MySwitch" is an ideal switch:
-On resistance = 1picoOhm
-Off resistance = 1TerraOhm
-Series inductance = 10nH
This ideal switch is driven by a pulse generator at 3us on time and 2ms repetition rate. This provides a partial discharge of the capacitor.
Green trace = command pulse
Violet trace = voltage drop across load resistor
You can consider it as a black-box which provides the indented result without adding or removing energy from the system, it's a lossless ideal switch.
It's not intended to be as lossy as a real ark discharge/spark-gap device, nor it's not trying to emulate an energy source, just simply recreate effect on the capacitor so we can take a look at energies at two resistors to demonstrate how critical t>5τ is important at calorimetry and COP determination.