author=ion link=topic=3640.msg68527#msg68527 date=1529959348]
You lose a portion of the energy in a cap to cap transfer if you do not do it correctly e.g. a direct sparking wire connection. If you do it correctly with an inductor, energy is conserved. A low loss diode plus inductor is even better. You need some compliance in the circuit in the form of a large inductive reactance between the capacitors otherwise the very large current spike winds up radiating energy as radio waves and there is Joule heating in the wires and the weld spot of contact accounting for the losses.
How about this--
Even if we use super conducting wire,with an ideal switch,we still find that half the energy was lost in the cap to cap transfer

There is a reason for this,and it is not due to resistive losses.
There is also a reason that using inductive transfer methods yields better results in the energy transfer.
How about electromagnetic radiation losses

This would explain many things in regards to the cap to cap transfer losses.
1-If you use a low resistance transfer path,you increase the current flow,and also the amplitude of the electromagnetic field. Increasing the amplitude of the electromagnetic field requires more energy,and so more energy is dissipated by the electromagnetic field.
2-If you use a high resistance transfer path,you decrease the current,and so, decrease the electromagnetic radiation,but at the same time,you have increased the resistive losses.
When you hook two caps together,you have just made a loop,and current flowing through a loop creates an electromagnetic field-->and this is a DC current flow-->best kind of electromagnet for turning most of the energy into heat-->worst kind to use in the cap to cap transfer.
Which is the most efficient kind of electromagnet ?--> the AC kind of course.
DC causes a lot of heat,and the field is radiated away from the source.
But with AC,the field is pushed out,and then returns back to the source.
Very little is lost to heat and radiation.
Are we starting to see why using an inductive transfer in the cap to cap energy transfer is better?
Yes,the electromagnetic radiation produced by the circuit-and the internal plates of the capacitors,is returned back to it's source,as the inclusion of the inductor creates an AC wave.
The air tank transfer has other losses that can possibly be partially recovered.
Could you touch on those losses please ION
Heat has already been covered,and the only other loss i could think of is entropy.
But after much discussion with MarkE about the entropy issue,it was deemed not to be of any significant's.
Brad
Never let your schooling get in the way of your education.