A new multichannel gas spark switch base on surface flashover technology

Summary form only given. As one of the critical elements of fast linear transformer driver(FLTD), gas switch influences the output characteristics, stability and reliability of FLTD. In this paper, a new multichannel gas spark closing switch has been designed for LTD. The trigger electrode is mainly constituted of eight pin electrodes, each pin electrode is surrounded by cylindrical insulation sleeve to produce surface flashover, which plays UV-preillumination feature. In order to observe the discharge process of the new gas switch, the polished organic glass insulation chambers instead of the nylon ones have been used. A discharge circuit called LTD brick has been established to test the performance of gas spark switch. The self-breakdown voltage with different gas pressure has been studied to obtain the working coefficient of switch. The triggered breakdown delay time and jitter under different charge voltage, gas pressure and working coefficient have been studied. Finally, the results of experiments show that surface flashover can promote the stable production of multichannel discharge effectively and reduce delay time and jitter.