Pseudo-spark switch (PSS) characteristics under different operation conditions

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961918· OSTI ID:22599882

Hamad, B. H., E-mail: [e-mail]; Ahmad, A. K., E-mail: [e-mail] ^[1]; Lateef, K. H., E-mail: [e-mail] ^[2]

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1. College of Science, Al Nahrain University, Jadria, Baghdad (Iraq)
2. Ministry of Science and Technology, Jadria, Baghdad (Iraq)

The present paper concentrates on the characteristics of the pseudospark switch (PSS) designed in a previous work. The special characteristics of PSS make it a replacement for other high voltage switches such as thyratrons and ordinary high-pressure spark gaps. PSS is characterized by short rise time and small jitter time. The pseudo park chamber consists of two hollow cylindrical electrodes made of a stainless steel material (type 306L) separated by an insulator. The insulator used in our design is a glazed ceramic 70 mm in diameter and 3.5 mm in thickness. A PSS with an anode voltage of 29.2 kV, and a current of 3.6 kA and 11 ns rise time was achieved and used successfully at a repetition rate of about 2.2 kHz. A simple trigger circuit designed, built, and used effectively reaching more than 1.56 kV trigger pulse which is sufficient to ignite the argon gas inside the cathode to cause a breakdown. A non-inductive dummy load is designed to be a new technique to find the accurate value of the PSS inductance. A jitter time of ±10 ns pulses is observed to occur in a reliable manner for more than 6 h of continuous operation. In this research, the important parameters of this switch like rise time, peak current, and anode voltage were studied at various values of charging capacitance. The lifetime of this system is depending on the kind of the electrode material and on the type of insulation material in the main gap of the pseudospark switch.

• OSTI ID: 22599882
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ANODES
CAPACITANCE
CATHODES
CERAMICS
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
GLAZES
INDUCTANCE
KHZ RANGE 01-100
PULSE RISE TIME
PULSES
STAINLESS STEELS
SWITCHES
THICKNESS
THYRATRONS
TRIGGER CIRCUITS