Voltage and Current Measurements on a Large Tesla Coil

Eindhoven University of Technology has a custombuilt large Tesla coil, used for demonstrations and performances at festivals or events, for example, at the EAPPC 2024 in Amsterdam. The high-voltage generated by the Tesla coil generates long electrical sparks (streamers) and by modulating the voltage, musical tones can be played. In this contribution we will show measurements of the output voltage and current. A D-dot sensor is developed for contactless voltage measurement, and current is measured with commercial sensors both at needle (where the streamers emerge) and at the ground return. The measurements show that the voltage can reach up to 500 kV and the current is in the order of 10 s of Ampere.