Tanya’s bright future with wireless electricity
Tanya Gorecha is an 11-year-old Grade Five pupil whose school project has attracted attention after she created a mini concept of Tesla coil that is powerful enough to light a bulb or a lamp when brought to close contact with the coil.
Tanya who goes to Genesis School, Oysterbay branch in Dar es Salaam won the overall award for the science project which was held at their school last weekend.
Her interest in science made her choose the concept after watching a documentary on Nikola Tesla.
“I became fascinated and inspired to research more on him. I discussed with my father to make a model of the mini Tesla coil and we started gathering materials and after many failures, we finally reached our objective,” says Tanya.
She says that one of the greatest advantages is that it can be made from cheap electrical components.
“Damaged bulbs can also get lit, provided the bulb glass is not broken, it will wirelessly transmit electricity without any direct connection,” she explained.
Tanya says that when produced on a larger scale (commercial scale) its use can help eradicate cables, poles and in the process save money.
She sees a future where wireless transmission of electricity is possible and on a bigger scale of Tesla coil that may be powered by large solar energy source, to benefit from eco-friendly energy.
How does it work?
The main component in the mini Tesla Coil is the secondary coil (golden in colour), which is made by winding a magnetic wire (enamelled) around a cylindrical object.
A high current high-frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used to supply current through the primary coil.
The whole setup is powered by a 9V battery. The positive end of the battery reaches the collector of transistor through the primary coil, and the emitter is grounded.
This means that whenever the transistor conducts, the current is flown through the primary coil.
One end of the secondary coil is also connected to the base of the transistor to make the circuit oscillate, this way the transistor will send an oscillating current into the primary coil.
