Explosively triggered gas-dielectric crowbar switch

Abstract

A gas-insulated gap switch with an unusually high standoff-to-trigger voltage ratio is described. Designed to standoff 500 kV when pressurized with SF(6) at 1.5 MPa (212 psi), the switch was triggered with as little as 19.3 kV across the gap by firing a shaped charge from one electrode toward the opposite electrode. Similar air-insulated and SF(6)-insulated gaps pressurized to 83 kPa (12 psi) and designed to standoff 50 and 150 kV, respectively, were triggered with 15.4 kV across the gap by firing an ordinary RP-2 detonator from one electrode toward the other.

A self-activating high-voltage, high-energy crowbar

“…There are a number of high-voltage, high-energy crowbar systems published in the literature, which are based on a number of different switching mechanisms. These include the use of thyratrons [2], vacuum spark gaps [3] and gas-filled spark gaps [4][5][6][7]. The systems described have maximum operating voltages below 500 kV and are limited in terms of the energy which they can safely divert.…”

Delay time of a vacuum gap triggered by an exploding wire

“…A triggered spark gap has found widespread use as an efficient controlled switch for transfer of energy at high voltage and current levels. Various trigger modes, such as the trigatron (Farall 1966), electric field distortion (Kukhta eta1 1976), laser beam (Guenther and Bettis 1978), electron beam (Miles et a1 1980) x-ray flash (Neau 1980), crossed magnetic fields (Lutz et a1 1976), mechanical impact closure (Boissady and Rioux-Damidav 1978), gas/metal vapour injection (Gilmour and Hope 1980), chemical explosive (Higgins and Mathews 1979) etc, have been reported in the literature. Detailed investigations on the switching time behaviour of a triggered vacuum gap (TVG) employing an entirely new type of trigger mode using an exploding wire (EW) have been conducted here for the first time.…”