Rapid capacitor charging power supply for an 1800J PFN

The RCC (rapid capacitor charger) previously developed at the P3E Center [1] has been adapted to charge an 1800 J PFN (pulse forming network) for rep-rated operation. The entire automated system to test and evaluate SGTOs (Super Gate turn-off Thyristors) runs at a 1 Hertz repetition rate; thus requiring a power supply to charge the PFN within 500 ms and have a 3.6 kJ/s average power capability to allow for data acquisition and storage between shots. The hard-switching H-bridge topology with 10 kW burst mode handling capability is very well suited for this compact table top system design. The control of the RCC has been shifted to a PIC controller responsible for PFN charging. Charging parameters include: an adjustable charging time from 50 to 500 ms, high voltage monitoring with adjustable voltage level, and RCC Go/shut-off. All charging parameters are determined by the main CPU handling the automation process and are sent to the PIC controller before each PFN charging event. With the addition of forced air cooled heat-sink for the IGBT modules, enough heat can be removed to allow continuous automated operation.