High Voltage Charging of a Capacitor Bank

We have demonstrated the feasibility of charging a capacitor bank to a high voltage using an autonomous ultra-compact explosively driven source of prime power. The prime power source is a longitudinally driven shock wave depolarization of a ferroelectric ceramic. The energy-carrying elements of the shock wave ferroelectric generators (FEGs) were poled Pb(Zr₅₂Ti₄₈)O₃ polycrystalline ceramic disks with 0.35 cm³ volume. FEGs charged 9 nF, 18 nF, and 36 nF capacitor banks and provided pulsed-power with peak amplitudes up to 0.29 MW. The maximum efficiency of electric charge transfer from shocked Pb(Zr₅₂Ti₄₈)O₃ elements to a capacitor bank was 46%. We demonstrated experimentally that the FEG-capacitor bank system can perform as an oscillatory circuit. A methodology was developed for numerical simulation of the operation of the FEG-capacitor bank system; the simulation results were in a good agreement with the experimental results.