Numerical Study for Obtaining the Optimum Conditions for Plasma Channel Formation in a Rail-Gap Closing Switch

Author

Pang, Lei ; Tao, Fengbo ; Ren, Baozhong ; Zhang, Qiaogen

Author_Institution

State Key Lab. of Electr. Insulation & Power Equip., Xi´´an Jiaotong Univ., Xi´´an, China

Volume

40

Issue

3

fYear

2012

fDate

3/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

919

Lastpage

924

Abstract

The triggering discharge behavior of the rail gap influences the jitter of discharge delay and inductance of the spark switch due to the formation of multiple spark channels in the rail-gap switch, which is related with the development of avalanche in the discharge process under the nanosecond triggering pulses. In this paper, the PIC/MCC method is used to investigate the avalanche development under a triggering pulse. A model of intershielding is proposed in the PIC/MCC method considering the effect of the space charges. From the simulation and experimental results, it has been clarified that the avalanche process can be controlled by the statistical delay time of the effective primary electrons. The intershielding model can also explain the effect of the rise time of a triggering pulse on the avalanche development.

Keywords

pulsed power switches; spark gaps; sparks; PIC-MCC method; avalanche development; avalanche process; discharge delay jitter; discharge process; intershielding model; multiple-spark channels; nanosecond triggering pulses; numerical study; plasma channel formation; primary electrons; rail-gap closing switch; space charges; spark switch inductance; statistical delay time; triggering discharge behavior; Delay; Discharges; Electrodes; Plasmas; Space charge; Sparks; Switches; Intershielding effect between avalanches; nanosecond pulse; particle simulation; pulse discharge;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2011.2180401

Filename

6156457