Automated health monitoring of a pulsed power system

The field of pulsed power has enjoyed widespread utilization, from industrial welding to high power microwave generation. In pulsed power, an energy storage device is charged to a specific voltage over a long time period. To achieve high peak power, the energy storage device is discharged over a small time duration, ranging from nanoseconds to microseconds, depending on the application. As the field matures from single-shot machines that fire only a few times a day to rep-rated operation with several shots per minute, the ability for operators to determine the operational state of the system on the fly is extremely limited. This paper discusses the application of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to real-time data output from Rogowski coils on a capacitor bank to determine the state of health between shots. The SVD pattern recognition system can be used to rapidly ascertain if the system should continue to operate, or if there is a potential problem developing somewhere in the system. This technique may lead to improving the operation of current and future pulsed power systems.