Category: Team Status Reports

There is no real significant risk remaining. At this point the product is as good as we can make it in its current format. Realistically, there are many design improvements that could be made, however they would require redesigns of core structures which it is far too late to make. We are pleased with the functionality of the device as a whole, and satisfied with the outcome.

The major design change made this week was the topload. We tried a large one but it ended up being too large unfortunately. Ultimately, through testing, a number of different toploads (including the large one) actually do work, however, the 1.5 inch diameter is most successful overall.

There is not realistically an updated schedule to provide, the only thing happening next week will be a slight improvement to the cooling system.

All in all, the system technically works. It has some quirks sure but it does arc freely (though does produce significantly stronger arcs when a conductive surface is nearby) and can even manage tonal outputs. With this, as stated earlier, we believe the device is as good as it can be without significant redesign work.

Unit tests:

Initial interrupter testing: Exposed that the original interrupter design would not work, as duty cycles were far too high.

Redesigned interrupter testing: Revealed successful design.

Repeated gate driver and oscillator testing: Revealed need to ground unused schmitt trigger inputs. Revealed instability of bridged output operation of gate driver IC. Revealed effects of inductive ringing.

Redesigned gate driver testing: Revealed successful design.

Repeated independent coil resonant frequency testing: Though initially giving confusing results, eventually led to proper turn count on primary coil, and revealed need for differently sized toploads.

Intial arcing tests: Helped establish that coils would successfully function. Helped establish resonant frequency of combined coil system.

First integration test: Exposed need for unified ground.

Second integration test: Revealed need for coil redesigns. Also revealed mosfet limitations and heat management issues.

Final integration tests: Exposed flaws in design that were not previously detected. Many of which call for major redesign to fix, but do not stop device from ultimately working.

The last two weeks have been very productive for the team. As mentioned in more detail in Caleb’s report, after fixing the issue which was repeatedly killing gate driver ICs, the circuit immediately proceeded to kill a MOSFET. This issue was resolved very effectively by including two clamp diodes on the gate driver output, and tying all grounds. Furthermore, circuit reliability is almost entirely verified. With this issue fixed, we attempted to proceed with integration testing. Throughout the testing, we managed to get small arcs to metal objects within a few millimeters of the topload, however nothing strong, long, or consistent. Furthermore, this only occurred when the oscillator frequency was set to 3.54 MHz. Not only is this frequency over double the original target frequency, it is also too much for the MOSFET to handle at the full 48V, and the MOSFET saw some overheating, though we noticed and shut it down before any damage was done.

Upon further testing of the coil’s resonance frequencies independently, it was realized that the self capacitance of the secondary coil was far too low. The topload was replaced with a steel ball measuring approximately 80mm in diameter, which brought the measured resonance frequency (adjusted for probe capacitance) down to 1.48MHz. This of course also called for a redesign of the primary coil. This was further necessitated by the looser coiling on the primary being affected by frequent movement, and therefore the inductance no longer being within spec. We swapped from a PVC former to a 3D-printed one, which included channels cut out for the primary coil wire to be held into. The final design also includes a tophat which secures the wires in these channels. To meet the new target resonance frequency, the primary turn count was increased to exactly 7.75 turns. This resulted in a new primary resonance frequency of 1.425 MHZ, which is well within oscillator adjustability range.

There are two remaining risks to the project. First is thermal management, specifically in the MOSFET. Caleb is attempting to find some solution to this issue, however we are not entirely certain it will be an issue with everything now retuned to a more appropriate frequency. The other risk is that it simply fails to function as intended. This is something we have been combatting consistently with the weeks of unit testing and fixing that we have been performing. By tomorrow, we will have a fully assembled product.

This week there was good progress made overall. The base plate of the housing which all of the circuitry bolts to was fully built and assembled. The coil circuit and audio modulation were confirmed to work as well.

The big risk right now however is the gate driver. This is still non-functional. The initial seen issue was that the oscillator was not outputting low level voltage properly. This was easily resolved however by tying unused inputs to ground. The new issue is what appears to be either ground bouncing or shoot-back in the gate driver IC. Next week’s efforts will primarily be dedicated to resolving the gate driver and performing integration. So far no major design changes are confirmable. An updated schedule has been provided, as well as some evidence of things working properly. 

This week a large amount of progress was made. The interrupter was redesigned and functions as expected now. The gate driver (though damaged in testing and repaired) works as well the primary circuitry. The secondary coil resonant frequency is nearly exactly what is expected. The only issue remaining currently is the primary coil inductance being too high, which will be easy to resolve.

The biggest threat currently is integration issues. Though with all the unit testing we are performing we do not expect to see much of that in the coming week. We feel that we are back near schedule at this point, and are confident that we will have a working demo sometime next week, leaving only some reliability testing and housing design.

This week the whole team performed unit testing on the circuit componentry. There was an issue in the interrupter circuit which has been identified as improper resistor values. A new interrupter circuit is currently being built to fix this issue, as duty cycles were far too high originally. This will result in a minor design change regarding the resistances used in the interrupter circuit, however those values have not been chosen yet. When they are, a post with an updated design report will be made to reflect those changes.

Once a new interrupter module has been built and passes unit testing for frequency and duty cycle range, the components will be assembled for integration based testing. We as a team plan to perform a large majority of the integration testing in one long period, which will serve as an apt stress test of our design as well.

As of current our biggest risk is integration. The time taken to perform these tests is non-negligible. While we do fear this may eat into our time to design our housing, we believe that we can power through. We still plan to have an at least basic functioning model by the interim demo date. An updated schedule will be included in the updated design report when that has been made.

This week we managed to complete all of our assembly tasks. While an issue with a soldering iron kept us from getting back on schedule perfectly, we established our schedule with enough time in each task to allow for some play. Next week will be some broad scale testing completion.

Our greatest threat to completion is integration error currently. With coil winding out of the way now, we plan to run unit tests on individual circuit components to ensure that each is outputting properly before we combine each into one single assembly.

No changes have been made to the design or schedule, but you can find a picture of the completed componentry here in this post.

Throughout the last two weeks, all parts were delivered, though many of the circuit components have not yet been received. While this does place us slightly behind schedule, we intentionally spaced our schedules in such a way to allow for some timing errors to happen, and believe that it should not create much affect. Coil assembly is underway, and is expected to be completed alongside circuit assembly when we meet on Monday 03/09/2026. Then the rest of the week can be dedicated to testing.

The current greatest threat to success that has been identified is proper winding of the secondary coil. The wire is thin, and many windings must be made tightly, however this is being done by hand, so some error is expected. This issue has already been accounted for though; we gave the Schmitt Trigger Oscillator such a large tuning range to account for resonant frequency misalignment between the coils, which we expected to be exacerbated by manual assembly.

One minor change has been made to the design, which is the inclusion of hot glue and electrical tape to hold the coil windings in place. Again, following from manual construction, it is very difficult to keep the windings in place without some form of adhesive.

Though we are slightly behind schedule, this was somewhat expected, and as such, no changes have been made to the schedule.

We were also asked to describe the product again in multiple ways, and these descriptions can be found below. Description A was written by Jayson, Description B was written by Jack, and Description C was written by Caleb.

A) The Musi-Coil system was designed to address a need that exists beyond the academic setting, which is making high-voltage electrical phenomena accessible, safe, and engaging to general audiences. Traditionally, Tesla Coils have been large and dangerous, only operable by specialists with significant training and access to industrial facilities. This design deliberately deviates by using a safe 48V supply, and much smaller coils, which will produce arcs that are visually striking but don’t carry large enough amounts of power to significantly harm someone. This makes it suitable for usage anywhere, be that schools, public maker spaces, or at home, not just in industrial labs.

The audio modulation capability further broadens the Musi-Coil’s global appeal by transforming a purely technical demonstration into an artistic medium. The ability to play recognizable music through plasma attracts significantly more attention, and makes it more engaging to a broader crowd, not just those who already understand the underlying electromagnetic principles. This allows the Musi-Coil to serve as a device for boosting overall STEM engagement worldwide, serving to increase STEM engagement which is extremely low in many areas globally. By using readily available, off the shelf components, the design is reproducible by hobbyists but also affordable, which reduces the barrier to providing more interesting and exciting ways to get people to engage with physics and electrical engineering.

B) Though the Musi-Coil isn’t explicitly suited for this purpose due to its compact size, it serves as a prototype for more culturally impactful implementations, such as in entertainment installations like night clubs or live music venues. Night club culture often emphasizes immersive audio-visual experiences where lighting, music, and visual effects work together to enhance the atmosphere of the performance. Because the product generates visible plasma arcs in response to music, it could be scaled up and integrated into stage or club environments as a unique visual implement. With an installation this large, the arcs would modulate with the music, creating synchronized electrical discharges that visually represent the sound being played. This aligns well with nightclub culture where audiences value novel and dramatic visual effects.

However, cultural expectations surrounding safety and accessibility would still need to be considered. Music venues are typically densely populated spaces with large audiences, so any scaled version would require appropriate shielding and arc-control mechanisms to ensure safe operation, especially for those with devices such as pacemakers. The current design already prioritizes controlled arc length and stable operation, though using methods which may not translate as well to larger installations. Regardless, by considering both entertainment and safety norms, the Musi-Coil could serve not only as an educational demonstration but also as a culturally relevant visual performance device.

C) The Musi-Coil has only one major implication on the environment, power consumption. As is well known thanks to decades of research on global warming, higher power consumption items produce a higher need for power production, which in most areas is not done using clean energy. While the Musi-Coil is not nearly large enough to create a noticeable spike in strain on the grid or increase in power consumption needs, it is considered good practice environmentally for all people to consume less power personally. As such, the Musi-Coil meets this good practice through a very efficient design.

In designing this high voltage product, a major concern was power efficiency. Since we intended for this to serve primarily a demonstrative purpose, we needed the Musi-Coil to be usable in any commonplace setting, and operate properly when plugged into a wall. This meant power consumption needed to be kept low enough as to not trigger a standard breaker, which trips at 1600W. What also influenced our power consumption decisions was user safety, as even though our product produces high voltage, if it did so with too much power, it would be inherently more dangerous and less controllable. As such, current peak power consumption estimates are only at around 350W, which is equivalent to the charger for a typical high end gaming laptop. Thus we believe that even though the Musi-Coil is not designed to serve some environmental purpose, it is designed to be environmentally friendly.

Design Review Presentations took place this week. We feel it went very well, and are pleased with the progress we’ve made up until this point. All specific purchase items were selected and orders have been placed. We are excited for our orders to be processed and delivered so we can begin the assembly process.

This week has been very productive. A power plan has been successfully created that is safe, reliable, and has good headroom. The interrupter, oscillator, and trigger have all been finished and are ready to be experimentally tuned (given that component tolerances must be considered, we have had to leave a couple things adjustable currently). The coil design process is most of the way done, the only thing left in theoretical design is to design the primary coil’s supporting circuitry, and then an enclosure for the circuitry itself. We think that this shouldn’t take too long and will be finalized in time for our Design Review Presentation.

A – Written by Jack) We’ve designed our product in consideration of welfare in the sense that it gives easier access to simple, affordable, visually presentable education to classes conducted with a low budget. I personally had the experience of volunteering at rural programs in China where music classes were conducted in the cheapest way possible. The teacher would write the notes on a chalk board and oftentimes no instruments could be played along while the students were singing. Our Musi-coil provides an option for a widely compatible speaker that is also educationally engaging, which can be used in music classes as well as physics, engineering, and even chemistry classes. Therefore, I consider our product to be not only an affordable teaching tool, but also one that achieves engagement levels unattainable by speakers costing 10x more.

B – Written by Jayson) The Musi-coil addresses social factors by making high-voltage physics accessible and engaging to diverse audiences. By enabling music playback through plasma discharge using a 3.5mm audio jack, we transform an intimidating technical demonstration into an inclusive education experience that creates emotional connections and inspires curiosity about STEM fields across different age groups and backgrounds. This design reflects our commitment to public science literacy and making advanced engineering concepts both approachable and memorable, potentially inspiring future engineers.

C – Written by Caleb) Our product is designed with economic factors in mind for both the educator and the hobbyist. Almost all internal parts are both affordable and readily available and the housing is 3D printed, thus production costs are low. Its compact size and relatively rectangular profile mean that distribution costs can be kept low, thanks to low wasted space in shipping organization. This means that final cost is kept low. As an educational device, this product is significantly cheaper than a large number of products meant for demonstration, especially ones with such versatility. While cheaper products that are similar to ours do exist, they are not nearly as impressive as outputs and are typically too small to be used in a demonstrative settings. In regards to the hobbyist, our device may seem expensive considering the aforementioned cheaper alternatives, however, there is not a widely available product which performs similar to ours on a similar scale of size or electrical output, and as such, our economic design means that our product, while not inherently affordable as a desktop collectible, is very reasonably priced in terms of its capabilities.

Circuitry design is on track. The trigger setup has been fully designed, preliminary research has been done on power circuitry, and interrupter and signal output design are both on track to completion. We feel that the circuit designing process is coming along well and anticipate that it will be done by next week in order to move along to ordering circuit components and begin work on designing the coils.