Turning a Tesla Coil Into a High-Voltage Plasma Cannon
Electrical engineerGreg Leyh of Lightning On Demand, who is a longtime member of Survival Research Labs, boosted the power of one of his giant, hand-constructed Tesla coils so that it would act as a powerful high-voltage plasma cannon.
Significantly boosting the Tesla tower strike energy by firing a pulse-forming network during the critical transition of the plasma channel.
Leyh goes through the humble beginnings of the Tesla coil, which he found components for in a scrapyard in West Oakland, California.
They had just started to demolish a huge ancient generator house, and their lot was quickly fillingup with tons of quality bus work and switch gear. Now, any reasonable person who witnessed thesepiles of scrap would have thought, Hey, here lies all the parts for a Tesla coil of properdimensions."
After explaining how the Tesla coil could be used as a weapon, Leyh tested it, first noting that the most vulnerable part of a hostile machine" is the gas tank.
So, how effective would the boostedcoil tower be against hostile machines?One critical component on these hostilemachines is the fuel tank. It turns outthat fuel tanks made out of steel easilyshield the fuel against normal un-boostedarc discharges. But could a high current strike actually penetrate the tank wall?
He also tested it on an old Ford Econoline van, using its fiberglass top as an entry point.
Leyh Firing His Lorentz Plasma CannonHostile machines have other susceptible critical components as well, such as the rubber tires and the electrical system. To test these possibilities, it's best to use a full-size test vehicle.Here we have a Ford Econoline 250 with a thickfiberglass top that's suitable for repellingmedium to high voltage attacks.
Greg Leyh Fires a Giant High-Voltage Plasma Cannon
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The post Turning a Tesla Coil Into a High-Voltage Plasma Cannon was originally published on Laughing Squid.