Development and switching characterization of high power pseudospark switch for fast pulsed power applications

Akhilesh Mishra^1,2, Shikha Misra¹, Varun^1,2, Bharat Lal Meena¹, Alok Mishra¹,
Abhijit Ravindra Tillu³, Ram Prakash Lamba^1,2, and Udit Narayan Pal^1,2
1CSIR- Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani-333 031, India
²Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad-201 002, India
³Accelerator and Pulse Power Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai-400 085, India
Dedicated to Prof B N Basu

In this paper, the development and switching characterization of a multi-gap, multi-aperture, pseudospark switch (MGMA-PSS) with and without the saturable inductor (SI) have been presented for fast pulse power applications. Simulation was also performed to understand the discharge growth inside the hollow cavity for the single-gap geometry. The SI not only improved the commutation loss but also proved to be beneficial for sustained operation over a longer life of the switch. The impact of the number of inductor cores was studied and experimental analysis was performed with the different numbers of inductor cores at different anode voltages and background hydrogen gas pressures. The experimental results have clearly indicated the reduction in commutation losses up to ~55%, ~80%, and ~95% with a single toroid core, three toroid cores, and five toroid cores, respectively. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Pseudospark discharge, Commutation losses, Hollow cathode, Hollow anode, High-power switch.

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