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The planned China fusion engineering test reactor (CFETR) needs one or more negative-ion-based neutral beam injectors (N-NBIs) with a beam energy of 500 or even 1000 keV. In order to prepare for CFETR, a prototype of CFETR N-NBI is being designed. The prototype needs an acceleration grid power supply (AGPS) rated at 200 kV/25 A with a maximum pulselength reaches to 3600 s. The AGPS adopted a single-stage inverter-type high-voltage power supply (HVPS). The output voltage ripple is an important specification of the AGPS, which can affect the efficiency and stability of N-NBI system by influencing the beam divergence. However, the conventional methods cannot be used to limit the output voltage ripple of the inverter-type HVPS used as AGPS of CFETR N-NBI prototype. This paper simplified the AGPS to an insulated three-phase three-level (TPTL) dc–dc converter connected with a dual dc link. The working process of the TPTL dc–dc converter with duty-cycle modulation has been analyzed, and two main continuous conduction modes are described. The influence of key parameters such as duty cycle of inverter, leakage inductance of transformer, and output current on output voltage ripple is analyzed. Based on the analysis results, a so-called combined control strategy was proposed to keep the output voltage ripple at a level. The proposed strategy is suitable for the cases where the object output voltage is below 175 kV. Some simulations were carried out by using MATLAB/Simulink. The results showed that the analysis in this paper is reliable and the proposed control strategy has a good performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a novel methodology to increase the voltage droop compensation range in generalized solid-state bipolar high-voltage Marx modulators with one resonant stage. To maintain the modularity characteristic of bipolar Marx modulators, the imbedding of additional resonant stages is not straightforward. Nevertheless, this paper proposes to add a second resonant stage to the already existing resonant-type voltage droop compensation stage. This second stage increases the voltage droop compensation percentage of a generalized solid-state bipolar Marx generator. The compensation of the bipolar pulse voltage droop is now achieved by adding two auxiliary synchronous compensation resonant voltages, to the output capacitive decaying voltage. Simulation and experimental results are presented for six Marx plus two resonant stages, 16% voltage droop, with 3-kV pulse amplitude, 100- $\mu \text{s}$ pulsewidth, 40-ms relaxation time, and 10-Hz pulse repetition rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design and construction of a sample of Marx pulsed generator based on boost converter (BC) pulse-forming networks (BCPFNs). BCPFN is used instead of the conventional Marx floors for constructing this pulsed generator. BCPFN is carried out by connecting inductors and capacitors in series and parallel modes, respectively, by using solid-state switches, and during this procedure the pulsed generator converts to BC temporarily and increases the voltage of capacitors uniformly to a considerable value. This technique causes an increase in the discharging voltage level to the load that is many times more than its dc voltage source by charging the capacitors to a greater level. In order to take advantage of the benefits of Marx generator and PFN, this paper suggests a new circuit with the minimum number of switches. It means, to compose BCPFN and Marx, we have tried to design the circuit with fewer switches and instead of it we have achieved our desired performance with changing the operating mode in the states of BC, PFN, BCPFN, and BCPFN Marx. The results are simulated with MATLAB software. At the end, the experimental results of the construction of the above-mentioned system at low-power levels are presented, and the topology’s accuracy is proved by comparing them to the results of simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have been taken into the breakdown voltage jitter of corona-stabilized switch at high repetition rate up to several kHz. It is thought that the gas recovery affect the jitter of breakdown voltage directly at high repetition rate, because the gas switch will breakdown at a low voltage if the gas cannot fully recover. The breakdown voltage jitter is called voltage jitter in the following paper. However, based on the experimental results, the voltage jitter still exists at low repetition rate, even at single-shot mode. This is not explained by the previous studies. In this paper, voltage jitter below 100 Hz of a corona-stabilized switch is investigated experimentally. A corona-stabilized switch is introduced, using a cylindrical electrode as the cathode and a plane electrode as the anode. The gas used between the electrodes is SF6. A negative pulse with a maximum width of 30~\mu \texts is used to charge this switch. The tested factors include gas pressure, gap space, repetition rate, and switch geometry. Experimental results show that voltage jitter is mainly affected by the gas pressure and switch geometry. It is seen that voltage jitter decreases as gas pressure increases and a suitable cathode geometry presents a low voltage jitter. Critical volume is a region close to the highly stressed electrode, where the presence of an electron will lead to an electron avalanche which attains a critical size and hence leads to a stabilizing corona. Critical volume is introduced to explain the experimental results. It is found that less voltage jitter can be achieved with a smaller and more concentrated critical volume, as well as efficient corona stabilization. The results indicate that voltage jitter may be reduced by optimize the critical volume at low repetition rate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

High power pseudospark switches (PSSs) can control pulsed high voltage, high peak current discharges. In this paper, a PSS in series with a saturable inductor at the anode is investigated. The commutation process is analyzed with a time-resolved method. And the effects of the number of magnetic cores and anode voltages on discharge characteristics are studied experimentally. At the beginning of commutation process, when the anode voltage is 10.4 kV with four magnetic cores, the inductor is unsaturated, and there is a flat plateau of the forward voltage drop after the anode voltage drops rapidly to about 200 V, at the same time the current rise rate is 2.8 kA/ $\mu \text{s}$. When the inductor is saturated, there is a voltage spike that occurs at the end of the flat plateau, and the current simultaneously rises rapidly at the rate of 6.4 kA/ $\mu \text{s}$. The current sharp rise lags behind the voltage drop of the pseudospark gap, and the electrode erosion and energy dissipation reduce significantly. When the anode voltage is 15.6 kV, the commutation losses reduce by about 30% with seven cores in series at the anode. As a result, it is evident that the discharge process will speed up if the anode voltage is higher. And the trigger delay decreases by up to 8% when the anode voltage varies from 5.2 to 15.6 kV. Finally, in order to obtain a reproducible pseudospark discharge by the use of a saturable inductor, the number of magnetic cores has to be optimized for different anode voltages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amorphous magnetic core has been widely used in pulsed power technology with applications including plasma science research, high-power microwave generation, and material surface treatment. For different applications, dynamic properties of the magnetic core will vary with stimulated magnetic field which determines by magnetization time and waveform of the driving voltage. In this paper, toroidal amorphous magnetic core ($\Phi ~540$ – $740\times25$ mm) was investigated theoretically, numerically, and experimentally. Specifically, the circuit is analyzed. A high-voltage test stand, which can generate different driving voltages with same components, was designed and developed in our laboratory. Dynamic properties, including magnetic induction change, coercive force and losses, were studied under three different typical waveforms with the same magnetic flux. Driving voltages of the pulses were 12, 12, and 6 kV and the magnetization rates were 0.6, 1.2, and 0.6 T/ $\mu \text{s}$ , respectively. Experimental results show reasonable agreement with the numerical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because it possesses higher current turn-off capability, the inverse current commutation with semiconductor devices (ICCOS) is a better option for the opening switch of an inductive pulsed power supply than the integrated gate commutated thyristor. This paper investigates the counter-current capacitor, which is the key component that determines the turn-off result and the volume of the counter-current branch. The major contributions of this paper include the following: 1) deriving an analytical expression for the minimum precharged capacitor voltage that can reliably turn off the main switch; 2) verifying this expression through a series of experiments within a current range of 0 to 4000 A and an energy range of 0 to 50 kJ; 3) giving an approximate expression for the optimal capacitance that minimizes the precharged energy; and 4) investigating the variation trends of the optimal capacitance and the corresponding optimal precharged energy with varying inductor current. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an active resonance circuit based on multiple series gaps (MSG) with voltage-dividing network and self-charging trigger device. The working principle of active resonance circuit, MSG, and triggering device is described in detail. To determine the optimal parameter setting of MSG, the effects of the voltage frequency, equalizing resistance, and voltage-dividing capacitance on the voltage distribution of MSG are analyzed by simulation. To realize the interrupting process of short fault current and determine the operation requirements of the main devices of precharge direct current (dc) circuit breaker, a simulation model of interrupting short fault current is performed. Furthermore, an experiment of four-series gaps is presented to verify the turn-on characteristic of the MSG and an experiment of artificial current zero is set up to testify the feasibility of the active resonance circuit. The simulation and experimental results show that the active resonance circuit proposed in this paper can generate an artificial zero current and is suitable for precharge dc circuit breaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) have been widely studied and used in nanosecond high-voltage pulse generators due to the advantages of fast switching speed and high repetitive frequency. Usually the Marx-type circuit is used to raise the peak value of output pulses. In this paper, a traditional BJT-Marx circuit using charging resistors is analyzed theoretically and experimentally. Based on the results, the structure of a circuit is changed to decrease the isolation voltage across the resistors, and diodes are used to replace charging resistors to block capacitors discharging to resistors. Experimental results showed that the three Marx generators proposed in this paper output pulses with higher voltage amplitude, and the last improved circuit outputs pulses with faster fall times at a higher efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multigap gas switch has been widely used in liner transformer drivers (LTDs), but there is still room for improvement on its self-breakdown and triggering characteristics. In this paper, based on the circuit model of the six-gap gas switch, the gap voltage distribution during the charging and triggering process is analyzed, and the optimization on self-breakdown and triggering characteristics by mounting resistors and capacitors in parallel with switch gaps are theoretically and experimentally investigated. The results indicate that compared with the original switch, when the self-breakdown voltage is about ±90 kV, the standard deviation is reduced from 7.5 to less than 3 kV; for a charging voltage of ±80 kV and by operating at 60% working coefficient, when the negative trigger voltage is 75 kV, the jitter of the switch is reduced from 6.1 to 1.4 ns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a high-voltage unipolar pulse power generator is introduced for electroporation applications. Operating principle of the proposed structure is based on the buck–boost (BB) converter. The generator is comprised of parallel modules connected to the converter through an SCR and is supplied by a low-voltage dc source. Each module consists of an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), two diodes, and a capacitor. In fact, the proposed topology is a combination of the Marx generator and BB (MG-BB) converter. In comparison with other modular MG-BB structures, the proposed topology achieves interesting advantages including simpler structure, reduction of IGBTs voltage rating, and reducing number of components (inductors and switches). In order to clarify the features of the proposed structure, it has been compared with other unipolar MGs considering different aspects including the number of circuit components, number of required input supplies, amplitude of the output pulse, and the maximum voltage across switches and diodes. To validate the effectiveness of the structure, simulation and experimental results are presented. The results confirm that the proposed topology is capable of generating unipolar pulses with desirable amplitude and repetition frequency using a low-voltage dc supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repetitive high-voltage square pulses are of great importance for producing long-pulse electron beams and high-power microwaves. One of possible technologies for the generation of such pulses is a Marx generator using pulse forming network (PFN) stages, often combined with a pulse sharpening technique to reduce the rise time to a few nanoseconds (peaking stage). This paper presents an innovative design, named the “zigzag design,” for the optimization of the compactness and of the rise time of 400-kV–85-ns PFN-Marx. Thanks to this design, the 16 stages of this generator, which delivers an open circuit output voltage of 720 kV, fit in a 650-mm length. For a slightly overmatched load ($Z_{\mathrm {load}} = 100 ~\Omega$), the output voltage reaches 400 kV with a rise time as less as 5 ns. The inductance reduction associated with the innovative zigzag design, which allows this sharp rise time with no need for a peaking stage, is described. The 85-ns plateau duration of the pulse is given by the PFN construction of each stage, which is based on six ceramic capacitors (2.1 nF–45 kV) connected within a strip line. The 16 PFN stages are housed in a 360-mm diameter gas pressurized vessel. Burst mode operation for a duration of 10 s at a pulse repetition frequency of 100 Hz is reported, for a resistive load and for the electron beam diode of a X-band relativistic backward-wave oscillator (BWO). To reach further compactness, the BWO system is integrated on side of the generator vessel and a U-shaped gas pressurized line connects both systems through a compact conical vacuum insulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a compact circuit topology is presented for pulsed power generation with a semiconductor opening switch (SOS). Such circuits require the generation of a fast forward current through the diode, followed by a reverse current that activates the recovery process. In general, magnetic switches are used to switch the diode current from forward to reverse. Therefore, adjustment of the output voltage of an SOS pulser is difficult. This paper introduces a circuit that allows an adjustable output voltage of the pulser. A solution is realized with a premagnetizing circuit on the primary winding of a pulse transformer (PT), so that a third winding is not needed. The primary capacitor voltage can now be varied while maintaining proper saturation of the PT. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Coaxial magnetically insulated transmission line (MITL) was widely used in high-current pulsed power facilities. It is also an important option in future high-current accelerators based on the linear transformer driver (LTD) technology, in which the output line is usually coaxial to fit the component layout. In one of the schemes for high-current LTD accelerator, tens of coaxial MITLs are connected to conical disk lines in parallel. As a special structure, the coaxial–conical transition is a key component of the system. The feasibility of efficient current transmission under magnetic insulation condition is the precondition for building such a pulsed power facility. In this paper, we report the results of coaxial–conical MITL transition experiment which were conducted on the primary test stand (PTS). At the inner MITL of PTS, four coaxial MITLs were connected, gradually changed to mini-triplate and finally connected two conical MITLs. The total current at the entrance of coaxial lines (input) and at the conical MITL (output) were recorded. It showed that an output–to-input current efficiency of above 96% and of 87% across the transition was achieved with short load connection and open load connection, respectively. The 3-D transient electromagnetic simulation and 3-D particle-in-cell simulations were conducted to check the transmission efficiency, which confirmed very tiny loss when the load was short connected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel circuit with the better performance for the inductive pulsed power supplies in the electromagnetic launch system is proposed in this paper, namely, the meat grinder with capacitive pulse forming unit (CPFU). Its working process is qualitatively analyzed stage by stage. Its practical feasibility is verified through a 7.5-kJ experiment. From the perspectives of circuit structure and working principle, this circuit can be regarded as the combination of a meat grinder and a CPFU. Compared with its preceding circuits, this circuit possesses following advantages: 1) the self-recovery of the capacitor precharged voltage can easily be achieved, which is conducive to continuous operations of the whole circuit and 2) the waveforms of the inductor currents contain no capacitive components, which can promote the energy storage density of the inductors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The meat grinder is a basic circuit for inductive pulsed-power supply (IPPS). Based on meat grinder, the Institute of Advanced Technology proposed a circuit called the slow transfer of energy through capacitive hybrid (STRETCH) meat grinder, in which an Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristors (IGCT) is selected as the main switch. Tsinghua University proposed the STRETCH meat grinder with inverse current commutation with semiconductor devices (ICCOS) in which the main switch is replaced by a thyristor and the ICCOS subcircuit is introduced to turn off the main switch. To reduce the opening switch voltage and increase the current turning-off capacity for IPPS, this paper presents a novel circuit topology named the meat grinder with self-charged capacitor and thyristors (SECTs). The key idea of the SECT topology is to turn off the primary current by the energy transfer capacitor, which is precharged. The meat grinder with SECT has larger capacity than the STRETCH meat grinder because it replaces the IGCT with a thyristor and is simpler than the STRETCH meat grinder with ICCOS because it only needs one capacitor. The suggested circuit is more suitable for IPPS module with high energy density. Simulation and experiment have been carried out to validate the circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a novel technique for the voltage droop compensation of long pulses in solid-state bipolar high-voltage Marx generators. Considering the modularity of Marx generators the compensation consists in adding one extra stage to perform as a pulsewidth modulation circuit. This stage voltage is added to the output positive or negative pulses, and an output LfCf filter is included to smooth the voltage pulse waveform. A five-stage laboratory prototype of this circuit has been assembled using 1200-V Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors and diodes with 1000-V dc input voltage. The circuit was operated at 50-Hz bipolar pulse rate, giving 4-kV bipolar pulses, into a resistive load, with 100- \mu \texts pulsewidth and 9.5-ms relaxation time. The circuit was able to compensate 10% of bipolar pulse voltage droop. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a dual-electrode gas switch triggered by ejected plasma is proposed to ensure the switch to be triggered reliably under extremely low switching coefficient. The switch has the configuration of dual electrodes, in one of which a microincentive chamber is embedded to develop ejected plasma into the switch gap, leading to the breakdown of the switch. Both the features of ejected plasma and the triggering discharge characteristics of the switch are studied with different types of gas, gas pressures, voltage polarities, gap distances, triggering pulse energies, and so on. The results show that the switch can be triggered reliably in a much wide working voltage range, as the minimum switching coefficient is low to 9% with the delay time of about 10 \mu \texts . With the decrease of gas pressure and the increase of triggering pulse energy, the height of ejected plasma increases while the delay time of the switch reduces. The polarities of charging voltage and triggering voltage both have obvious influence on the delay time of the switch, and the effect of the former is greater. Under the same gas pressure and triggering pulse energy, the delay time in SF6 is much bigger than that in N2. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Megavolt-class-triggered switches play a key role in large-induction voltage adder accelerators. This paper introduces a 2.8-MV, low-inductance, low-jitter, electrical-triggered, gas SF6 switch. The main section is a $V/n$ switch and the pretrigger section is a trigatron switch. Based on electric field simulation, experiment, and analysis, the structure and spacing of gaps, location of trigger disk, diaphragm, and switch inductance are all discussed. The primary test indicates that the switch can be operated in the range of 0.85–2.76 MV with the pressure of the SF6 changing from 0.1 to 0.9 MPa. The self-breakdown voltage is linearly related to the logarithm of the pressure, as the gap spacing and the voltage rise time are fixed. Three working modes were observed: self-breakdown, self-triggered, and ex-triggered. In the triggered modes, the switch jitter is <3 ns and the switch inductance is usually below 150 nH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The series configuration of fast semiconductor switches seems to be the key component in the high-voltage and fast rising time pulse generation. In this approach, two important issues must be considered. The first is to provide a safe operating condition for the switches in transient intervals. The second is to design a gate drive system with the capability of driving a large number of discrete devices simultaneously. The aim of this paper is to obviate these two requirements. First, different factors affecting the unbalanced voltage sharing between the series switches are discussed. In this investigation, the switch-to-ground parasitic capacitance effect has been recognized as the major effect on the unbalanced voltage sharing in the transient interval. Two schemes for abating this effect are proposed. To solve the unbalanced voltage distribution, the structure with a snubber circuit in the clamp mode operation is suggested. This scheme can be used for any number of switches without destructively affecting their behavior. In addition, the output pulse with a fast rising time could be obtained by the proposed gate drive system. In order to evaluate the operation of the proposed structure, a stacked switch with the voltage capability of 36 kV is tested experimentally. The characteristics of the obtained pulse are the fast rising time (69.5 ns) with the dV/dt of 460 kv/ \mu \texts and the wide range of the pulsewidth adjusting to 0.5–15 \mu \texts . In addition, the voltage variance of the switches level in the series structure is about 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper details the experimental evaluation and simulation of a 4-kV n-type gate turn-OFF thyristor (GTO) designed for pulsed power applications. The primary criteria of evaluation are rate of current rise ( dI/dt ), turn-ON delay time ( T_{D}) , and resistance of the device during turn-ON transients [ R_{\mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}(t)$ ]. The device under test (DuT) is an n-type asymmetric-blocking GTO manufactured by Silicon Power (Part No. 14N40A10) with a rated dc blocking voltage of 4 kV. A test circuit was specifically designed to minimize stray inductance in order to capitalize on the dI/dt$ capabilities of the DuT. Experimental data collected from resistance measurements are used to develop a single-switch approximate model for use in simulation. The results of dI/dt$ experiments provide a profile of DuT dI/dt$ operation beyond rated values; specifically dI/dt were readily achieved. The turn-ON delay time of the DuT is also characterized and determined to be $\sim 225$ ns on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acceleration grid power supply (AGPS) is an important part of the neutral beam injector (NBI) system. With the increase in NBI power, the requirement for output voltage of the AGPS is becoming higher and higher, even reaching to 1000 kV. As the inverter-type high voltage power supply uses inverters located at the lower voltage side to regulate and cut off the output voltage, it is very suitable for high-voltage applications. The proposed scheme for the AGPS of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) NBI system comprises five stages, where each stage has an inverter-type power supply with an output voltage of 200 kV. This paper investigates the inverter-type power supply based on neutral point clamped three-phase three-level (TPTL) inverter and three-phase step-up transformer, which is equivalent to an insulated TPTL dc–dc converter connected with a dual dc link. In order to design a preferable controller for the inverter-type power supply, the topology and principles of the TPTL dc–dc converter with duty cycle modulation have been analyzed. It indicates that only when the converter operates at a large duty cycle, the output voltage ripple can be limited to ±5%. Hence, the small signal model of the converter at a duty cycle larger than 2/3 is established. Following the mathematical model, a single-loop PID controller has been designed and a 400 V/6 A prototype has been built. Simulation and experimental results verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis. The system achieves a lower output voltage ripple and fast dynamic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the studies performed to identify a suitable design solution for the power supply of the residual ion dump for neutral beam injectors (NBI) of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). A novel approach has been proposed based on the series of two power supplies, one to produce the average output voltage and one devoted to the generation of the required ac component. The paper is focused in particular on the schematic circuit adopted to generate the alternating component that is meant to use floating capacitors to produce a trapezoidal voltage component superimposed to the dc one. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The basic structure and work mechanism of laser-triggered vacuum switch (LTVS) are introduced briefly in this paper, and the processes of primary plasma production and expansion are analyzed as well. A series of experiments has been carried out with different gap voltages, laser wavelengths, laser energies, polarity configuration modes, switch structures, focal lengths, and laser waveforms. The switch structure is modified to improve the heavy-current capability of the switch, and the gap distance is increased to improve the voltage capacity. The special design of the trigger structure can reduce the dependence on the laser energy of the switch and the time delay. A new laser waveform of LTVS multiple wave crests could further decrease the laser energy, and it is the research basis of laser trigger miniaturization and its application in the LTVS. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the design and implementation of a three-phase resonant converter with low ripple and high control accuracy. Based on a three-phase LCC-type resonant converter—which has advantages of low ripple, high-efficiency, and high-power density compared with a single-phase converter—a high-voltage power supply with low ripple (<0.1%) was designed. In addition to the general merits of an LCC-type resonant converter operating at continuous conduction mode—including soft switching, low conduction loss, and current source characteristics—the proposed scheme uses only one phase under a light-load condition by having different leg designs of the gate drive circuit and snubber parameters. This allows the design to overcome the operational constraints of the general LCC-type resonant converter. The distinctive design of the three-phase converter structure provides high efficiency and low ripple not only during rated operation, but also under light-load conditions. In order to analyze the high performance of the proposed scheme from no load to rated load, a PSPICE simulation was carried out. Comparison results with a conventional LCC-type resonant converter based on a single-phase structure are analyzed from the viewpoints of output ripple, losses, and operable load range. Using the proposed converter, a 20-kV, 20-kW high-voltage dc power supply design and implementation was presented with a superior gate drive circuit. Finally, the superiority of the proposed converter was verified through a simulation and experimental results. It was experimentally confirmed that the developed power supply achieves high performance in terms of efficiency (98%), operable load range (0.5–20 kV), and low ripple (0.05%), with a high power density. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper demonstrates for the first time the use of microplasma to perform AND, OR, and XOR logic operations. The logic circuits are implemented similar to diode-resistor logic. Output voltages are in the range of \(5-40\) V and can be modified by varying the load resistor. The active area of the microplasma device is just \(50~\mu \) m \(\times 5~\mu \) m. The small interelectrode gap kept breakdown voltage to \(\sim 250\) V when operated in He gas at atmospheric pressure. The use of plasma as a source of free carriers is also demonstrated, with free carriers available up to 500- \(\mu \) m away from plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the complicated arc phenomena in air dc circuit breakers that are widely used in rail transit and vessels are investigated with both experimental and numerical approaches. Initially, the basic arc motion characteristics in the switch are presented by the recorded waveforms and images in the carefully designed breaking experiments. Phenomena of arc stagnation and back commutation are revealed and the influence of arc chamber width on the arc stagnation is preliminarily discussed according to the experimental results. Then, to make the nature of arc motion clear and to determine the influence details of the arc chamber width on arc motion characteristics, a simplified model based on magnetohydrodynamics theory is built and four cases with the arc chambers of different widths are calculated. The simulated arc behavior is presented by the temperature distribution sequences. In addition, the formation process of back commutation is described in detail by the variation of arc column. The influence mechanism of arc chamber width on arc motion is analyzed according to the differences of pressure propagation and temperature distribution in the arc chamber. Furthermore, the calculated arc displacement curves show that the arc stagnation time could be shortened and the risk of back commutation could be reduced by decreasing the arc chamber width within the reasonable extent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A modular linear transformer driver (LTD) is a novel fast-discharge high-pulsed power source for primarily stored energy. In LTDs, a large number of stages (or cavities) can be connected in series or in parallel conveniently to directly generate high power pulses of 50–200 ns with the required voltage or current. This paper introduces an LTD stage developed by us recently. This LTD stage consists of 14 bricks in parallel. Each brick contains two 40-nF capacitors and a compact multigap gas spark switch in series. The switch is a modification of our original version, and the diameter and the height of which have been reduced to 98 and 127 mm, respectively. The circuit model of this stage is established in PSPICE, and its output parameters are obtained through simulation. Driving a rough-matched resistive load of 0.27 \Omega, its output current peak is 300 kA with an overall rise time of about 110 ns at a charged voltage of the capacitors of about \pm90 kV, agreeing well with its simulation result. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to investigate the different features of the positive leader propagation in the rod–plane and inverted rod–plane gaps, the discharge experiments in a 3-m rod–plane gap and a 3-m inverted rod–plane gap were carried out under switching impulse voltage. The positive leader propagation process was recorded by using a high-speed CCD camera. Some aspects to describe the positive leader propagation characteristics of the rod–plane and inverted rod–plane gaps are obtained and compared in this paper, including the critical corona radius, the average continuous leader inception voltage, the axial leader velocity, and the final jump length. The possible reason resulting in those differences is also discussed here. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When small currents are interrupted by a vacuum switch, it is well known that the chopping current and the associated overvoltage are observed. Many investigations on the current-chopping phenomena in alternating-current (ac) circuits have been carried out, but there are no data available on inverter circuits in spite of their recent wide application to synchronous motor systems. In this paper, chopping-current levels and the overvoltages in an inverter circuit under a simple three-level pulsewidth-modulated control are investigated. As a result, the mean chopping-current level is three to four times higher than that in an ac circuit. In particular, high chopping currents occur only when the timing of the current interruption by the vacuum switch synchronizes with that of the inverter's switching, which we call “double chopping.” High chopping current due to double chopping might be harmful since the high overvoltage proportional to the chopping-current level could damage the insulation of electric equipment. However, we experimentally confirmed that a typical surge suppressor could reduce overvoltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to design a standard gate driver for optimal switching control of a static induction thyristor (SI-Thy) because of its unique internal structure and the direct commutation switching characteristic between the gate and cathode terminals during the transient turn-on and turn-off switching phases. Therefore, it is important to develop a simple and effective gate driver for achieving optimal fast turn-on and stable switching operations in an SI-Thy under hard-switching conditions. To achieve faster turn-on switching time with shorter gate delay time, impedance matching between the SI-Thy and the turn-on driving circuit component in the gate driver can be realized with additional circuit modification through this paper. To ensure higher stabilities in the turn-off switching phase, forced commutation techniques and additional auxiliary circuits in the gate driver have been devised to suppress the latchup and to eliminate potential ringing possibility. We have demonstrated that our designed and tested gate driver for realizing optimal switching characteristics of an SI-Thy is effective, particularly in the gate driving circuits for various pulsed-power switching applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the construction and experimental tests of a 12-kV high-voltage high-action generator based on reverse-switching dynistor (RSD) assembly. The main RSD unit consists of seven 76-mm-diameter dynistor pieces connected in series with a blocking voltage of about 2.4 kV, a magnetic switch based on a 1K101 amorphous alloy core, the trigger system based on a saturable transformer, and a 16-mm RSD assembly; the trigger current could reach 2 kA in amplitude with 1-\mu\s duration under 10 kV. The working voltage rate of this RSD unit is about 8–12 kV. Experiment on a 2.2-mF capacitor test bed under 12 kV working voltage, the switch current amplitude reached 150 kA with 300-\mu\s duration; the transferred charge is about 26.5 C and the action is 2.94 \MA^2\s, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]