Spark-gap device for precise switching

Patent · Thu Jan 28 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6758864

Boettcher, G. E.

An improved spark gap apparatus is provided for precise switching of high currents from charged capacitors, and for protecting circuitry and circuit components, such as an energy storage capacitor, from overvoltage surges. The invention includes a pair of niobium electrodes with a melting point greater than 2000/sup 0/C that forms the spark gap. The electrodes are supported by conductive caps spaced apart from one another by an insulating member all of which form a hermetically sealed chamber filled with an inert, ionizable gas, preferably pure xenon. The spark gap device includes a quantity of solid radioactive stabilizer, carbon-14, placed within the hermetically sealed chamber adjacent to the spark gap. Methods for fabricating the device and its components are described. It is claimed that use of the Nb electrodes forestalls electrode erosion even under severe voltage and discharge conditions, that, by employing pure Xe gas, and solid carbon-14 radiation stabilizer, it is unnecessary to employ radioactive gases or chemically plated radioactive sources to promote ionization, and that, by selection of a suitable spark gap, a spark gap device is obtained which is capable of switching at 1700 V +- 10% for input voltage rates up to 570 V/ms and allowing peak discharge currents up to 3000 A from a 0.3 microfarad energy storage capacitor for more than 1000 operations. (LCL)

• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• Assignee: Dept. of Energy
• Patent Number(s): PATENTS-US-A343614
• Application Number: ON: DE83002381
• OSTI ID: 6758864
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

200301* -- Power Transmission & Distribution-- AC Systems
EHV & UHV-- (-1989)
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
AC SYSTEMS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BREAKDOWN
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
DESIGN
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT PROTECTION DEVICES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FABRICATION
FLUIDS
GASES
HVAC SYSTEMS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
METALS
NIOBIUM
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
POWER SYSTEMS
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE GASES
SPARK GAPS
SURGES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
XENON
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES