"amdx" wrote in message
...

"Jeff Johnson" wrote in message
...


"amdx" wrote in message
...
Several years ago while making inductors for tuning a class E amplifier
we
end up with a 4-1/2 turn inductor. The inductor used a 3F3 potcore,
gapped I think,
but it has been awhile. The inductor was driven hard but below
saturation.
The problem; the 1/2 turn got HOT. Four turns or five turns were ok.
My physicist friend had an EE verify the problem 2000 miles away.

So, can anyone tell me why 1/2 turn would make such a difference in the
heating?

Thanks, MikeK



Resonance? (I assume by 1/2 you mean the 4.5 inductor?)
Yes, a 4 and 1/2 turn inductor had the 1/2 turn overheat.


huh?

The half turn and the other turns were ok? This is impossible!?!?! One has
the same current through the whole coil and if the wire was uniform then it
should heat heally well. Not only that copper is a good heat conductor so if
the 1/2 turn was heating up then he heat should spread pretty quickly.

This assumes everything else is uniform along the coil. Something has to be
going on that your not telling us? Ideally the heat should be uniformly
distributed along the coil.

By "HOT" I assume you mean much much hotter than the other coils?

Heat is generated by the current, is it not? and the current should be
uniform throughout the wire? The resistance of the wire itself should also
be uniform. This suggests that the heat dissipated per unit length is
independent of position.

Were both ends hot? If not then something else is going on. Because you are
saying the .5 end of a 4.5 coil got HOT. Yet which end? the 4.5 coil has two
..5 ends and should in theory be symmetric and hence both get equally HOT. If
they wern't then something is aloof.