All,

So I was wondering if anyone could point in the right direction or help me understand how an Autoformer works and what exactly is going on. I have attached a real simple circuit that I was told is an Autoformer setup but I'm not sure exactly what is going on.

The left side of the circuit is simply tying both primary and secondary together then is connected elsewhere in the circuit. The input on this side is a very fast di/dt signal. The output of the primary is connected to an electrode tip for spark production.

I guess I'm just not sure how to apply circuit theory to this circuit, like the step-up and down ratios and also since there is loss of isolation can this transformer produce voltage ringing back on the rest of the circuitry.

Thanks for any help. I am at a loss of exactly how this little circuit works.

 

If you google autotransformer you will get a lot of info. Autoformer is a name soldom used.