Experimental study of SOS-based generator for low impedance load

This paper presents results of the experimental examination of a generator outfitted with a semiconductor opening switch operating with a low impedance (4-5 ohm) load. The pulse amplitude reaches 50 kV at the half-height length of the semisquare pulse equal to 100 ns. The generator was examined at the pulse repetition rate of 5 Hz. The average output power at the load is up to 250 W. The output assembly of the generator comprises a pumping capacitor, a magnetic switch, a semiconductor opening switch, and a semisquare pulse generation circuit. The output assembly receives energy via a spark gap from an intermediate storage. The intermediate storage is charged by a pulsed thyristor charging unit having a step-up pulse transformer. The paper describes the test installation including the circuitry, the operating principle and characteristics of the constituent elements. It also furnishes results of the experiments on the transfer of energy in the generator elements, operation of the spark gap and the semiconductor opening switch, generation of the output pulse, and the energy loss.