All solid-state pulsed power generator with semiconductor and magnetic compression switches

Conventional pulsed power sources using gas switches suffer from short lifetime, low PRF and expensive maintenance cost. Many all solid-state generator topologies have been developed to replace them. Marx modulator utilizing IGBTs as main switches has many advantages, such as variable pulse length and PRF, snubberless operation, inherent redundancy. However, the relatively slow turn-on speed of IGBT influences the pulse rise time of the Marx modulator. In this paper, a newly developed all solid-state pulsed power generator is proposed. This generator consists of a Marx modulator based on IGBT half bridge modules and a magnetic pulse sharpening circuit, which is employed to compress the rising edge of the Marx output pulse. The pulse sharpening circuit is composed of two magnetic compression switches and one peaking capacitor. The experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of pulse sharpening. The design of IGBT drive circuits and magnetic switches is introduced in detail in this paper.