Electromagnetic Radiation from a Tesla Transformer

Abstract

In addition to the resistive and dielectric losses that inevitably occur near the secondary winding of a Tesla transformer, electromagnetic radiation into the far field also contributes to the overall power losses and thereby reduces both the effective quality factor (Q) and the power transfer efficiency of this winding. A short study of these effects for a laboratory scale transformer has shown that, in addition to its Q-factor being considerably reduced, the secondary winding is an extremely inefficient radiator of electromagnetic energy.