Investigation of an improved low-impedance meander pulse forming line based on glass ceramics

Hao Cai,Hanwu Yang,Fanzheng Zeng,Song Li,Qingmeng Zhang,Junting Wang

doi:10.1063/5.0065700

Abstract

The meander pulse forming line (PFL) is a kind of prospective solid dielectric device for compact, reliable pulsed power systems. In this paper, the electrode structure of a PFL based on glass ceramics was designed with a Ω-shaped structure, which can improve the voltage strength of the PFL and increase the output pulse width. The electric field distribution and output waveform were obtained numerically. Experimental results illustrate that the improved PFL, with dimensions of 260 × 140 × 7 mm3, when used as a simple PFL could generate a well-shaped quasi-square pulse, with the output pulse duration of 85 ns, which is in agreement with the simulation within 14%. Under the conditions of 30 kV charging voltage, 50 Hz repetition frequency, and 4 Ω matching impedance, the lifetime of the solid dielectric PFL based on glass ceramics could be more than 1 × 106. Experiments show reasonable agreement with numerical analysis.

Highlights

Potential industrial and military applications arouse a wide investigation of the pulsed power technologies, which can be used for generating high power microwaves (HPMs),1–3 compact pulsed lasers,4 and material surface treatment.5,6 As one of the key devices, the pulse forming line (PFL) is crucial for forming the square-shaped pulse on the load that directly determines the performance of the whole system
The electrode structure of a PFL based on glass ceramics was designed with a Ω-shaped structure, which can improve the voltage strength of the PFL and increase the output pulse width
Due to the limitation of the size of glass ceramics, the peak voltage of the output waveform is about tens of kilovolts, the load impedance of the PFL is difficult to be reduced, and the pulse width is about tens of nanoseconds

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Potential industrial and military applications arouse a wide investigation of the pulsed power technologies, which can be used for generating high power microwaves (HPMs), compact pulsed lasers, and material surface treatment. As one of the key devices, the pulse forming line (PFL) is crucial for forming the square-shaped pulse on the load that directly determines the performance of the whole system. We are motivated to study the solid dielectric meander PFL because of the interest in compactness, portability, long pulse achievability, and low-impedance PFLs. At present, the research on solid dielectric PFLs mainly focuses on the aspects of electric field, repetition frequency, lifetime, and square wave quality.. The electrode structure of the PFL based on glass ceramics was designed with a Ω-shaped structure, which can improve the voltage strength of the PFL and increase the output pulse width.

THEORETICAL CALCULATION OF THE PFL

DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF MEANDER PFL

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS WITH THE Ω-SHAPED PFL

CONCLUSIONS