Theories concerning Hans Coler's Stromerzeuger

[TinselKoala]

Ah...no. An energy source may look like a negative resistance, but a negative resistance is NOT necessarily an energy source. Reflected power in a transmission line system is certainly NOT an energy source.... it can be an energy storage mechanism if you set up a standing wave and encourage it by resonant pumping, and certainly this stored energy can be released, smoothly or disruptively. However, all the energy comes from the transmitter's power supply, not from the "negative resistance" of the transmission line.

[Smudge]

I beg to differ.  A negative resistance is an energy source seen from the point where the negative resistance appears.  That tells you nothing about where the energy actually comes from, and of course you need to look into the circuit or system that is creating that negative resistance to find the source of energy.  You seem to be of the opinion that because we are talking about transmission lines with reflection at the far end, that automatically implies we connect a transmitter to the input, and that then must be the source of the energy.  I have a different viewpoint that says a transmission line with a reactive impedance is a rather special device, it is not your usual chain or distribution of passive components.  It could be a chain of active components, and then the source is obviously the power supply to those active components.  In that case it is not necessary to place a transmitter at the front end, the system can self oscillate quite happily.  On the other hand the transmission line could be something special that exhibits the reactive impedance characteristic, in which case the energy source is buried within that special device.  As I have argued elsewhere a magnetized ferromagnetic conductive rod has alot of energy stored in the precessions of the conduction electrons, and it is just possible that this array of quantum driven oscillators is the source of energy. 

[MarkE]

I beg to differ.  A negative resistance is an energy source seen from the point where the negative resistance appears.  That tells you nothing about where the energy actually comes from, and of course you need to look into the circuit or system that is creating that negative resistance to find the source of energy.  You seem to be of the opinion that because we are talking about transmission lines with reflection at the far end, that automatically implies we connect a transmitter to the input, and that then must be the source of the energy.  I have a different viewpoint that says a transmission line with a reactive impedance is a rather special device, it is not your usual chain or distribution of passive components.  It could be a chain of active components, and then the source is obviously the power supply to those active components.  In that case it is not necessary to place a transmitter at the front end, the system can self oscillate quite happily.  On the other hand the transmission line could be something special that exhibits the reactive impedance characteristic, in which case the energy source is buried within that special device.  As I have argued elsewhere a magnetized ferromagnetic conductive rod has alot of energy stored in the precessions of the conduction electrons, and it is just possible that this array of quantum driven oscillators is the source of energy.

Transmission lines are defined as passive structures.  The only energy available in a transmission line is energy previously launched into the structure from an external energy source.

[Smudge]

Transmission lines are defined as passive structures.  The only energy available in a transmission line is energy previously launched into the structure from an external energy source.

Transmission lines do not have to be made from passive components.  It is possible to create inductive and capacitive "components" from active devices having feedback whereby the value of the inductance or capacitance is controlled by the gain of the active device and the characteristic of the feedback loop.  A chain of such devices would perform as a transmission line.  Moreover with such active devices it would be possible to give the transmission line a reactive characteristic impedance, something that is not normal in lines made from passive components.  Having done that, according to classical line theory, it is possible to achieve a line having negative resistance as its input characteristic.  As in all negative resistance devices, thermal noise is all that is necessary to get self oscillation, so IMO we could make such a self-oscillating line using active components.  Of course in that case the power in the oscillations comes from the power delivered to the active devices.

A transmission line having reactive Z₀ is not generally found or even considered in the field of electromagnetics, so the negative input resistance aspect has not been studied before.  But it is there hidden in the math of transmission line theory.  Now is that just a math artefact?  My reasoning above suggests it is not.  So if there does exist such a line in Nature, it will act like my line made from active components, and there will be some power source inherent in that line.

[MarkE]

Transmission lines do not have to be made from passive components.  It is possible to create inductive and capacitive "components" from active devices having feedback whereby the value of the inductance or capacitance is controlled by the gain of the active device and the characteristic of the feedback loop.  A chain of such devices would perform as a transmission line.  Moreover with such active devices it would be possible to give the transmission line a reactive characteristic impedance, something that is not normal in lines made from passive components.  Having done that, according to classical line theory, it is possible to achieve a line having negative resistance as its input characteristic.  As in all negative resistance devices, thermal noise is all that is necessary to get self oscillation, so IMO we could make such a self-oscillating line using active components.  Of course in that case the power in the oscillations comes from the power delivered to the active devices.

A transmission line having reactive Z₀ is not generally found or even considered in the field of electromagnetics, so the negative input resistance aspect has not been studied before.  But it is there hidden in the math of transmission line theory.  Now is that just a math artefact?  My reasoning above suggests it is not.  So if there does exist such a line in Nature, it will act like my line made from active components, and there will be some power source inherent in that line.

A passive device does not contribute energy.  If one pieces together amplifiers, power sources for the amplifiers and transmission lines, the transmission lines remain passive no matter how many amplifiers and power supplies one attaches.

Transmission lines have been used as phase shift elements in certain oscillator designs for decades and decades.