Repetitive high voltage all-solid-state Marx generator for dielectric barrier discharge pulsed plasma

Abstract

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is used in plasma technology with wide applications, such as ozone generation, depollution of gas stream and surface treatment of plastics. Commonly used power supplies for DBD generate sinusoidal voltages with frequency up to 100 kHz. Recent research shows that apart from a primary discharge occurring at the rising front or during the pulse top, a secondary discharge occurs at the end of the falling voltage flank when unipolar square pulses are used. This excitation method of DBDs improves energy efficiency significantly compared with sinusoidal excitation. In this paper, an all-solid-state Marx generator that can generate nearly rectangular pulses with a DBD load is proposed. It operates at an output voltage of 30 kV, a repetition frequency of 1 kHz and 1 kV DC input voltage successfully. Both the rise and fall times are less than 200 ns, and a maximum pulse-width of 1 us is obtained. A transformer isolated gate drive circuit is employed. This prototype has been applied in gas treatment research using DBD. Preliminary experimental results show that it is able to deliver almost rectangular voltage pulse to resistive load and capacitive load. When driving a DBD load, it can output large current at the rising of a pulse.