Yao Xueling

Experimental Investigations on Trigger Characteristics of Pseudo- spark Switch Based on Surface Flashover Technology

A trigger device and a triggered pseudospark switch (TPSS) were designed based on surface flashover technology, in order to meet the requirements from present pulse power technology and pulse current test technology such as a long lifetime, reliability in a wide voltage range, a short delay time, as well as small delay jitters. The trigger devices were made from different dielectric materials, with their permittivities from tens to thousands. The trigger characteristics of TPSS were investigated. The results indicate that the high-dielectric trigger device shows better performance and higher emitted charge of the electron emission within all adjusted parameters including the gas pressure and applied voltage. For the dielectric material with relative permittivity er of 3460, when the gas pressure is 7 Pa, the hold-off voltage of TPSS is 28 kV, the minimum trigger switch voltage drops to 128 V, the minimum discharging delay time and delay jitter are less than 35ns and 6ns, respectively, and the reliable operation can be reached within a very large range of charging voltage, between 0.46% and 99% of its self-breakdown voltage.

Electrode Erosion of a High Energy Impulse Spark Gap Switch

Based on the principle of thermal conduction, three metal alloys (stainless steel, copper-tungsten and graphite) were chosen as the material of the high impulse current discharging switch. Experimental results indicate that the mass loss and surface erosion morphology of the electrode are related with the electrode material (conductivity σ, melting point Tm, density ρ and thermal capacity c) and the impulse transferred charge (or energy) per impulse for the same total impulse transferred charge. The experimental results indicate that the mass loss of stainless steel, copper-tungsten and graphite are 380.10 μg/C, 118.10 μg/C and 81.90 μg/C respectively under the condition of a total impulse transferred charge of 525 C and a transferred charge per impulse of 10.5 C. Under the same impulse transferred charge, the mass loss of copper-tungsten (118.10 μg/C) with the transferred charge per impulse at 10.5 C is far larger than the mass loss (38.61 μg/C) at a 1.48 C transferred charge per impulse. The electrode erosion mechanism under high energy impulse arcs is analyzed briefly and it is suggested that by selecting high conductive metal or metal alloy as the electrode material of a high energy impulse spark gap switch and setting high erosion resistance material at the top of the electrode, the mass loss of the electrode can be reduced and the life of the switch prolonged.

A Novel Crowbar Impulse Current Circuit for Testing the Switch-Type SPD

A crowbar impulse current circuit for testing the switch-type surge protective device (SPD) is presented. The crowbar circuit consists of a computer control circuit, a trigger voltage pulse generator, a main discharging switch, and a crowbar pseudospark switch. The active trigger technology was studied in the crowbar impulse current circuit. The circuit monitors the main discharging current and generates a trigger signal at a proper time for the crowbar pseudospark switch operation. The trigger characteristics of the main discharge switch and the crowbar pseudospark switch were investigated. By monitoring the preset applied capacitor voltage, the gap distance of the main discharging switch could be adjusted to ensure a discharging delay time less than 2 μs. Equipped with a surface flashover trigger device made of high relative perimittivity dielectric material BaTiO3 (r = 3460), the discharge delay time of the crowbar pseudospark switch is less than 85 ns, and the minimum operating voltage is less than 1% of its self-breakdown voltage. With a storage capacitor of 9 μF, an inductor of 18 μH and a crowbar pseudospark switch, a load of 30 mω and an applied capacitor voltage of 40 kV, an impulse current waveform of maximum 25 kA was generated with a rise time and time to half peak value of 17.2 μs and 336 μs respectively.

Experimental Study on Triggering Characteristics of a Surface Flashover Triggered Vacuum Switch

Triggering characteristics of triggered vacuum switch (TVS), including the discharge delay time, delay jitter, range of operational voltage and peak of pulsed current, are investigated. Both structure and experimental circuit of TVS are presented. The results indicate that TVS, as a surface flashover triggering device with high dielectric permittivity material, is with excellent triggering characteristics. When the hold-off voltage reaches 120 kV, the minimum operational voltage is 1.3 kV, and the minimum discharge delay time and jitter are 100 ns and ±10 ns, respectively. The peak current is up to 240 kA when the operational voltage reaches 100 kV. TVS can well satisfy the main demands of high voltage and current applications, and can also be used under a multi-crowbar circuit.

Experimental Study of Electron Emission Characteristics of a Surface Flashover Trigger in a Low Pressure Environment

Characteristics of electron emission induced by a surface flashover trigger device in a low-pressure trigger switch were investigated. A test method to measure the emitted charges from the trigger device was developed, and the factors affecting the emitted charges were analyzed. The results indicated that the major emitted charges from the trigger device were induced by surface plasma generated by surface flashover occurring on the trigger dielectric material. The emitted charges and the peak emission current increased linearly with the change in the trigger voltage and bias voltage. The emitted charges collected from the anode were affected by the gap distance. However, the emitted charges were less affected by the anode diameter. Furthermore, the emitted charges and the peak emission current decreased rapidly with the increase in gas pressure in a range from 0 Pa to 100 Pa, and then remained stable or changed slightly when the increase in gas pressure up to 2400 Pa.

An Active Triggered Surge Protective Gap

A triggered surge protective device is designed and its discharge characteristics are studied. The experimental results show that the triggered surge protective device has excellent surge protective characteristics. When the gap distance is 5 mm, p · d is 90 Pa·mm and without an active energy trigger circuit, the DC breakdown voltage of the triggered surge protective device is 2.32 kV and the pulse breakdown voltage is 5.75 kV. Therefore, the pulse voltage ratio, which is defined as the specific value of pulse breakdown voltage and DC breakdown voltage, is 2.48. With a semiconductor ZnO flashover trigger device and an active energy coupling trigger circuit, the pulse breakdown voltage can be reduced to 3.32 kV, the pulse voltage ratio is 1.43 and the response time is less than 100 ns. These results are helpful in laying a theoretical foundation for further studies on triggered surge protective devices.

Investigation on 10/350 Crowbar Pulse Current Circuit

Structure of main air discharging switch and a crowbar TVS (triggered vacuum switch) are designed and their triggering characteristics are investigated. The experimental results showed that for TVS the operating voltage range is from 1.3 kV to 120 kV, its maximum delay time is 400 ns and its jitter is ±10 ns. Based on these results the crowbar 10/350 μs (i.e., with a front time of 10 μs and a duration of 350 μs) pulse current circuit and its controlling circuit are designed. With a 10 μF stored capacitor C and a 6 μF waveform forming induction, a pulse current is generated with a maximum of 100 kA, front time of 10 ns and duration of 350 μs. This pulse waveform can be used for testing SPD (surge protective devices).

Study of Discharging Characteristics of Hollow Cathode Surge Protective Gap

A hollow cathode surge protective gap (HCSPG) was designed, and the discharge characteristics was investigated in an air and nitrogen gas environment. For both the gap spacing D and the hole diameter of HCSPG of 3 mm, the voltage protective value Up of HCSPG is about 3.5 kV and its converting time tc exceeds 100 ns at an air pressure from 10 Pa to 100 Pa. The maximum converting time tc from glow to arc discharging reaches 1600 ns at an air pressure of 100 Pa, while the minimum converting time tc is 120 ns at 10 Pa. For a triggered HCSPG, Up is reduced to about 1.6 kV while the converting time is 120 ns with a semiconductor trigger device and 50 ns with a dielectric porcelain trigger device under an air pressure of 100 Pa.

The Experimental Study of Pulsed Current Magnetic Fields on Human Cells

Human peripheral lymphocytes were placed in different modes of radiated PCMFs (pulsed current magnetic fields) environment, and the elementary experimental results illustrate that SCE (sister chromatid exchange) are mainly related to the parameters of PCMFs: the cells biological effect have direct correlation with the magnetic amplitude Bm, the pulse front edge gradient dB/dt and duration time T₂ of the PCMFs, and find that the cell biological effect have direct correlation with the parameter [B_mmiddot(dB/dt)²middotT₂] of PCMFs. From the statistical theory, analyzing the experimental results and elicited primarily that the critical aberrance reference value [B _mmiddot(dB/dt)²middotT₂] is 1.0x10 ⁹, and the critical damage reference value is 4.6times10 ¹¹

Emission Current Characteristics of Triggered Device of Vacuum Switch

The characteristics of the triggered vacuum switch (TVS) are obviously influenced by the emission current ie and emission charge of the trigger device. In this paper, an RC charge collector is designed, and the characteristics of emission current ie and collecting charge Qe of the trigger device are studied. The experimental results indicate that the emission current ie which is produced by the initial plasma has both positive and negative components, and the polarity of the emission current ie depends mainly on the polarity of the bias voltage UBias. The emission current ie and collecting charge Qe increase with the increase of the trigger voltage Utr and the bias voltage UBias. The emission efficient η increases linearly with the increase of the bias voltage UBias. When the gap distance is 15 mm and bias voltage UBias is 160 V and trigger voltage Utr is 2.6 kV, the emission efficiency η reaches 6%