Research of Surge Protective Gap With Active-Energy-Coupling-Triggered Circuit

A surge protective gap (SPG) with an active energy-coupling-triggered circuit is designed, and its discharge characteristics are studied. The experimental results show that the SPG with active-energy-coupling-triggered circuit and flashover trigger device has excellent surge protective characteristics. The gap distance is 5 mm, and the produced p · d is 90 Pa · mm. Moreover, with no active-energy-coupling-triggered circuit, the dc breakdown voltage is 2.32 kV, and the pulse breakdown voltage is 5.75 kV. Therefore, the voltage ratio, which is defined as the specific value of the pulse breakdown voltage and the dc breakdown voltage, is 2.48. When using the BaTiO₃ flashover trigger device and the capacitor-coupling-triggered circuit and with 5-mm gap distance and p · d = 90 Pa · mm, the pulse breakdown voltage can reduce to 2.16 kV, the voltage ratio is close to one, and the response time is less than 100 ns. The results of the study lay a theoretical foundation for further research on enhancing the voltage protection level of the SPG.