Shorting a tuned L/C circuit

[joellagace]

Hello all, I have been messing around with this method now for a a while with some success. I am not very good at math so most of this is all done with random parts and trial and error, Anyways what I have been experimenting with is a variety of induction coils and capacitors and antennas, Mostly stuff I salvaged from old ham radio or AM transmitter gear. With a variety of loops and antennas with the help of my o-scope I can bring these circuits into resonance and pull in enough voltage to drive an oscillator that I can rectify to DC and then measure with my volt meter up to 40 volts with 50ma of current all running from my table inside the house. So the whole idea of using a tuned L/C circuit to collect various energy from "the air" works, But the current is somewhat meh, Some are able to charge a small battery after a day or so. Not very practical.  The fun stuff from what I have been reading about is once you start shorting this tuned L/C circuit capacitor at the same rate as the input tuned frequency that the capacitor is charging at, The discharge spike gets amplified and collected with the help of some single turns low impedance pick up coils gathering these discharge spikes and then rectifying it to DC is where the extra current extraction kicks in. Kind of like a Tesla coil running in reverse I suppose. Anyhow the whole idea is that the shorting switching oscillator only needing a few volts of "Bait" induction power to start up, Once the shorting takes place, The extraction from the discharges ends up being more then the oscillator is needed to run, Gathering a quick excess of power, That could be fed back into a chain of super capacitor bank, Emulating a storage battery and with the help of maybe a power rectifier to feed to oscillator steady with just a couple of volts needed and the rest be feed into maybe a 12 volts AC inverter and run some small stuff. So this sounds cool.

Some things to think about:

1. What frequency should I tune to for best results?

I'm thinking the high frequencies such as cell phones and microwave. The logic is since cell phones run at around 1.9 GHZ, At that frequency. That is lots of shorts per second. Resulting in more discharges per second giving even more power extraction potential. But building a tank coil at these frequencies might be next to impossible.

Another possibly is AC 60 hertz induction. Since at 60 hertz we can't really get to 1/4 wave away. Anything nearby can't work like a traditional antenna around near field. So it would have to be coupled somehow perhaps with a over sized single turn coil. Problem, I am not good at math and have not found any online resources on how to build tuned 60 hertz L/C circuits. I can run some online calculators but these values don't mean much to me on paper. Like how is a tuned L/C tank circuit supposed to look like physically at 60 hertz? How big should the loop be? If only I had something to compare then I could go with that.

2. What is the best shorting capacitor method that needs very little power and can be synchronized with input frequency such as 60 hertz. I am guessing some transistors or some micro-controllers turning on and off a relay perhaps.

Your ideas are all welcomed!

[Magluvin]

Sorry. I didnt realize I had to approve new threads.

Just approved it. Will check more often.

Mags

[gotoluc]

Hi Joellagace,


Very interesting experiment. Thanks for sharing.


I don't have anything to suggest on the 60Hz but I'm interested in what you are doing.
Could you make a demo video of your circuit in operation and show your power measurements with and without sort?


Thanks for sharing


Luc

[telecom]

I was able to generate power from the sparks using crystal radio.
Sparks were coming from the ignition coil.

Radio was from a kit, and was actually picking up some stations.

I connected it to the 15 W light bulb, and it was slightly glowing, when I increased
the frequency of the sparks, it was glowing brighter.
I had to abruptly interrupt the measurements after all the phones stopped
working in my office building, and people came out to the lobby, I guess because of the noise from the sparks.

[gotoluc]

I was able to generate power from the sparks using crystal radio.
Sparks were coming from the ignition coil.

Radio was from a kit, and was actually picking up some stations.

I connected it to the 15 W light bulb, and it was slightly glowing, when I increased
the frequency of the sparks, it was glowing brighter.
I had to abruptly interrupt the measurements after all the phones stopped
working in my office building, and people came out to the lobby, I guess because of the noise from the sparks.

Hi telecom,


are you also user joellagace, first post of this topic?


Regarding your spark,crystal radio and 15W bulb. Could you make a short video. Hard to believe a crystal radio can make a bulb glow.


Thanks for sharing


Luc