Impacts of Commutation Voltage Drop on Self-Exciting Air-Core Pulsed Alternator

As a novel pulsed-power supply, the air-core pulsed alternator is outstanding in providing repetitive pulse with high energy density, and preferred in a variety of fields including laser and electromagnetic launch, etc. To achieve a superior field excitation power supply, the air-core pulsed alternator usually adopts a self-excitation module, putting some emphasis on the design of the excitation conditions. In previous studies, the commutation voltage drop is neglected in excitation condition analysis. However, the voltage drop may have some significant impacts on the excitation conditions, and the neglect would cause a deviation between analysis and practices. This paper focuses on the analysis of excitation condition, taking the commutation voltage drop into account.