Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Investigations about triggering of coaxial multichannel pseudospark switches

Journal Article · · IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/27.281555· OSTI ID:6857388

A fundamental problem of pseudospark switches is erosion in the borehole area. One way to reduce erosion is to distribute the current to several discharge channels. Essential for multichannel operation is a reliable ignition of all these channels. The aim of this work was to find out the requirements for a trigger for multichannel pseudospark switches and to develop a suitable trigger device. The investigations were made with a three channel pseudospark switch. The developed trigger is a pulsed hollow cathode discharge with a 3 mA dc-preionization. A trigger voltage of 4 kV results in a current of about 6 A in the hollow cathode of the trigger-section. This hollow cathode discharge causes a trigger current into the hollow cathodes of the pseudospark chambers. The trigger current which is necessary to ignite an equally distributed discharge has to be at least 3 mA into each main switch hollow cathode. A jitter of 2 ns was achieved for the coaxial multichannel pseudospark switch.

OSTI ID:
6857388
Journal Information:
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 22:1; ISSN ITPSBD; ISSN 0093-3813
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Triggering of radial multichannel pseudospark switches by a pulsed hollow cathode discharge
Journal Article · Wed Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 1996 · IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science · OSTI ID:244918

Requirements for simultaneous ignition of all channels in a high-current radial multichannel pseudospark switch
Journal Article · Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995 · IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science · OSTI ID:118950

Trigger devices for pseudospark switches
Journal Article · Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995 · IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science · OSTI ID:118946