Welcome to www.teslaphone.com and .net

The Teslaphone is currently under construction at the facilities of AERCO in Austin Texas. It is a modulated Tesla coil in the megavolt range. It is dormant when no audio signal is applied and produces a dramatic electrical discharge in response to voice or music. The audio signal is applied through a fiber optic link for safety reasons. The heart of the system is an Eimac 3CW5000-F1, a large liquid-cooled triode tube. The primary coil is fabricated from 5/8" copper tubing which also serves as the radiator for the coolant. Because the cooling fluid circulates in a coil that is operating at several thousand volts, the coolant pump must be very well isolated electrically. This is accomplished by a Trebor Model 100 teflon body pump that is powered by compressed air. While the tube is capable of 5,000 watts output power, the system is operated at about half that power level to reduce the cooling requirements and the weight of the high voltage power converter. In contrast, most Tesla coils are powered by a neon sign transformer and a spark gap. The neon sign transformers are seldom over 400 watts and the spark gap is probably less efficient at driving the primary than a well-matched current switch. The secondary coil is a little less than 8 feet tall and disassembles into 4 sections for easy transportation. Protective circuits in the system monitor peak voltage across the tube, coolant pressure at the tube inlet and coolant temperature at the tube outlet.

The major components:

4.5 pounds of silver and ceramic, 122 more $20 bills will get you a new one at your local (very) friendly Eimac dealer.

The Trebor high purity chemical pump consumes 8 C.F.M. of compressed air to circulate 5.5 G.P.M. of coolant through the tube and primary coil. It probably finds ethylene glycol a very boring chemical, but an electric pump would hardly do- the plumbing is at 6,000 volts.

One half of the filament transformer. At 375 watts, the filament alone is about as powerful as the neon sign transformer that drives most mid-size Tesla coils.

The primary coil also serves as the radiator for the coolant. TWO reasons to not touch it while in operation!