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Description
The APERIODIC research group at the University of New Mexico has been investigating novel triggering technologies for compact pulsed power. These technologies include the use of advanced magnetics and novel topologies to develop high performance compact solid state electrical trigger systems*. One of the technologies under investigation is the use of advanced magnetic materials as the basis of saturating pulse transformer (SPT) circuits.
High performance triggering of high voltage three-electrode gas switches places difficult demands on the trigger generator system. For optimum performance, the trigger system must be capable of driving the trigger electrode(s) to a potential of up to 100 kV with 10’s of nanosecond risetimes. Achieving these performance specifications with a compact all-solid-state design using conventional topologies is impossible.
The use of an SPT in an L-C circuit topology, as described by Fan and Liu [1], provides a means to overcome the limitations of conventional topologies to achieve the desired performance in an all-solid-state compact trigger pulser. However, there is still a significant amount of research and development that needs to be done to fully exploit the potential of this technology. The work at UNM has focused on two areas. The first is the use of advanced magnetic materials for the core of the SPT. The second is the development of circuit simulations that incorporate realistic models of the magnetic behavior of the core. This is important because the SPT L-C circuit has several free parameters that are mutually interactive – making it a system that is well suited to optimization through simulation.
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This work supported by The Office of Naval Research under STTR N00014-15-P-1214
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X. Fan and J. Liu, A compact, all solid-state LC high voltage generator, Review of Scientific Instruments 84, 064703 (2013); doi: 10.1063/1.4808314
