High Current Triggered Vacuum Switch Research Articles

A trigger generator for controlling a high-current triggered vacuum switch

A trigger generator (TG) with a discharge of a storage capacitor through the trigger gap of a triggered vacuum switch (TVS) was developed. It provides a voltage amplitude of up to 7 kV across the trigger gap. After a gap breakdown, the TG provides an ignition current in the form of a damped sinusoid with an amplitude of ≥1 kA. It differs from analogous devices by pulsed charging of the storage capacitor and the use of an output self-breakdown gas-filled switch. The developed design of the gas switch with gas preionization in the spark gap by an additional corona discharge provides high stability of both the pulsed-breakdown voltage and the switching-on time. The TG tests showed reliable and stable switching-on of high-current TVSs of different modifications with a discharge-current rise rate of up to 3 × 1010 А/s.

The lifetime of a high-current triggered vacuum switch with multi-gap

Triggered vacuum switch (TVS) synthesizes the merits of spark gap and vacuum technology. A TVS sample with multi-gap is described in this paper, in which the main electrode is made up of spatially interleaved rods of opposite polarity on a ring. Three pairs of rods are adopted, which can form six main gaps, promoting the high current carrying ability evidently. Due to hundreds of high current pulses, the influence of vacuum arc to the trigger pin and main electrode is inevitable, leading to the termination of lifetime of TVS, especially in the erosion of trigger pin and arc deposition on the trigger surface. In this paper, the major influence factors of lifetime are analyzed and it is concluded that the main current arc is the key factor to determine the lifetime of TVS. As well the change of trigger voltage, trigger resistance and trigger delay will predict the termination of TVS lifetime.

The Lifetime of a High-Current Triggered Vacuum Switch with Multi-Gap

The Lifetime of a High-Current Triggered Vacuum Switch with Multi-Gap

Triggered Vacuum Switch With an Axial Magnetic Field

Triggered vacuum switches (TVSs) are widely used in pulse power and pulse technologies due to their high switching capacities. high-current TVSs have been developed for switching current in ac networks with frequency from 50 to 100 Hz. The new TVS has a disk electrode system that forms an axial magnetic field by current flow through the electrode. Experimental research on the switching and breaking ability of the new TVS is carried out at various parameters of discharge current. It is shown that the TVS is capable of repeatedly switching its current from amperes up to tens of kiloamperes with a duration up to tens of milliseconds.

Characterization of the high current triggered vacuum switch

The triggered vacuum switch (TVS) is widely used in the electromagnetic launcher (EML) system. An important performance of TVS with the six-gap rod electrode system which has been used in experimental research is long operating life, the high current and high coulomb. A major feature of TVS is capacity of carrying high current. Therefore, this paper focuses on the main current characteristics of the TVS. The result shows that under the capacitance of 1200 μF, the experiment was repeated 300 times when the current flowing through TVS was 100 kA, the characteristic of TVS is not damaged, the trigger voltage is maintained at 4–5 kV, insulation resistance is 2000 MΩ. In another case, when the capacitor value is 4400 μF, the current flowing through TVS was 207 kA, it can be repeated several times, until TVS is damaged, insulation resistance drops to 0 Ω. The result proves that the surface flashover triggered vacuum switch of a six-gap rod electrode can withstand 200 kA current, the transfer charge is 75 C.

A High-Voltage and High-Current Triggered Vacuum Switch

High-power and high-current test technology has many requirements for a discharging switch, such as high hold-off voltage, wide operating voltage scope, short discharging delay time and jitter, strong charge transfer ability, and long lifetime. A high-voltage and high-current triggered vacuum switch (TVS) with a surface flashover trigger device has been designed, and the trigger device is made from a material whose relative dielectric constant ε <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">r</sub> is around 2500. The experimental circuits are set up, and the experiments are performed. The experimental results showed that the TVS can be used at a maximum voltage of up to 120 kV, the minimum operation voltage is 1.3 kV, the maximum discharging delay time is less than 400 ns, and the minimum discharging delay time and jitter reach to 100 and 10 ns, respectively. The maximum current switched is about 180 kA, and the maximum transfer charge per shot is larger than 2.5 C. The switch can satisfy the main demands of crowbar circuit applications and can be used on high-voltage and high-current application situations.

Study on Triggering Characteristics of High Current Triggered Vacuum Switches

High current switch is a key component of a pulsed power source. Triggered vacuum switch (TVS) possesses many advantages including wide range of operating voltage, compact structure, low cost and so on, so it is considered as one of the most compelling switch in pulsed power system. This paper describes two types (A and B) of TVS samples with different main electrodes and triggering electrodes. Based on theoretical analysis and experimental results, the triggering characteristics of TVS samples have been researched. The triggering polarity, triggering energy and operating voltage influence the triggering delay and the jitter of delay. To recover the failure of TVS samples caused by decreased triggering energy, series air gap was tried. In the lifetime test, the resistance between the triggering electrodes dropped gradually, leading to the failure of TVS. Both types of TVS have discharges number of 100 shots with 70 kA peak current. The ablation on the main electrodes of type B TVS was slighter than that of type A.

Electric Breakdown Strength of High-Current Triggered Vacuum Switches

The paper considers the influence of operating conditions of high-current triggered vacuum switches with six-gap rod electrode systems on the breakdown strength of their internal insulation. Studies were performed in two switching regimes. In the first regime, the erosion of electrodes occurs mainly in the vapor phase, when the electrodes' surfaces remained fairly smooth after switching. In the second regime, the erosion in the drop phase prevails, and the electrodes' surfaces were appreciably damaged. Statistical processing of the experimental data shows that the distribution of the voltages of the first breakdown follows the Weibull law. The effect of the interelectrode gap and the material of the electrodes on the breakdown strength of the devices is considered. The maximum operating voltage of an РВУ-43 triggered vacuum discharge switch is determined.