Physical mechanism of triggering in trigatron spark gaps

Peterkin, F.E.; Williams, P. F.

doi:10.1063/1.100168

Cited by 26 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…[1][2][3][9][10][11] When the volts are applied, initiated electrons emit from the cathode. These electrons are accelerated and move to the anode or trigger pin caused by the E-field, which in turn leads to electron collisions and avalanches.…”

Section: Theoretical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling of switching delay in gas-insulated trigatron spark gaps

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

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Articles you may be interested inSlightly uneven electric field trigatron employed in tens of microseconds charging time Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 093507 (2014); 10.1063/1.4895831 Energy loss in spark gap switches Phys. Plasmas 21, 043513 (2014); 10.1063/1.4873706Effect of the gap on discharge characteristics of the three-electrode trigatron switch A simple ultraviolet radiation-triggered switch with an electric field distortion gap for long-lifetime electrodes Rev.Based on the gas discharge theory involving distorted E-field enhancement, a physical model is proposed to estimate the switching delay for gas-insulated trigatron spark gaps with a trigger pin inside the main electrode. Two discovered breakdown modes, i.e., fast-breakdown mode (FBM) and slow-breakdown mode (SBM), can be unified in this model. Raether criterion can distinguish these two modes. If the main E-field and enhanced E-field near the trigger pin tip are great enough, FBM forms easily. Otherwise, if streamer development needs to rely on the second ionization process and relevant distorted E-field enhancement, the breakdown of the main gap would turn into SBM. The enhanced E-field near the trigger pin tip may affect the threshold main E-field of FBM. The distorted E-field enhancement may affect the switching delay length of SBM. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.

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Section: Theoretical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is called as a fast-breakdown mode (FBM), which was confirmed by high-sensitivity streak camera photograph. 11 If streamer forms at an anode, the breakdown of the main gap is initiated after the trigger gap breaks down, and is the result of the action of this spark. This mechanism is defined as a slow-breakdown mode (SBM).…”

Section: Theoretical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling of switching delay in gas-insulated trigatron spark gaps

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…Among the whole forced triggering spark gap switches, the trigatron spark gap prevails mostly [10][11][12]. A typical trigatron spark gap consists of two main electrodes with a trigger pin electrode placed coaxially inside the hole on one of the main electrodes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on a New Ignition Method of the Spark Gap Based on Plasma Ejection in Air

Huang

Yang

Huo³

et al. 2016

Contrib. Plasma Phys.

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A new ignition method of the spark gap based on plasma ejection is proposed in this paper, as the conventional trigatron spark gap performs poorly under the low working coefficient (the ratio of the charging voltage to the self‐breakdown voltage) in air. The plasma is generated by the capillary discharge, which has high pressure, high temperature and high velocity. The capillary discharge device is placed inside the low voltage electrode. As long as the triggering signal is sent to the device, a column of the plasma flow is ejected in axial direction and develops rapidly towards the high voltage electrode. Subsequently, the gap is broken down and a high resistive channel is formed, where the thermal ionization takes place and the arc across the whole gap is generated and develops into a well conductive channel. The process of the thermal ionization of the high resistive channel varies with the change of the spark gap distance. The breakdown delay and the delay jitter of the spark gap increase with the spark gap distance, as both parameters are mainly determined by the developing process of the plasma ejection. The characteristics of the plasma flow determine the possibility of the breakdown of the spark gap under the low working coefficient. The ignition method based on capillary plasma ejection has been proved by the preliminary experiments, which indicate that under the gap length of 8 cm and the working coefficient of less than 3%, the effective ignition is still achievable.

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“…Characteristic current-voltage curves can then be deduced from the output signals after recording the charging voltage of the capacitor or the energy storage unit. Previous experiments [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] were carried out to study the effect of the breakdown conditions and the plasma characteristics where breakdown could be preceded by corona stabilization in non-uniform electric field geometry. Such studies establish a correlation scheme between charged particle density and its governing parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impedance Characteristics of Pulsed Atmospheric Electrical Discharge in Spherical Plasma Switch

Journal¹

2011

Baghdad Sci.J

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A number of pulsed experiments have been carried out using a high-voltage circuit containing R,L, and C in certain arrangements. A spherical spark gap of steel electrodes was used as a high-current switch operated by a voltage of up to 8kV and triggered in both self-triggering and third-electrode triggering modes. Current measurements were carried out by using both current-viewing resistor and Rogowski coils designed for this purpose. Typical current waveforms have shown obvious dominating inductance effect of the circuit components in an underdamped oscillation. The behavior of the circuit impedance was studied by recording both pulsed current peaks and the charging voltages when currents of up to 2.5kA were recorded. The duration of these current pulses were found to extend between 0.1?s and 0.3?s depending on the values of the circuit components as well as the spacing of the spark gap electrodes along which the plasma propagates at atmospheric pressure. Over the whole range of experimental conditions, the average nominal impedance values were ranged between (2-10)? depending on the gap and circuit parameters. Typical damage patterns were observed with average diameters of up to 8.3 mm on the high voltage electrode and 10.5 mm on the grounded sphere resulting from accumulative discharges and power dissipation within the gap.

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Physical mechanism of triggering in trigatron spark gaps

Cited by 26 publications

References 10 publications

Modeling of switching delay in gas-insulated trigatron spark gaps

Modeling of switching delay in gas-insulated trigatron spark gaps

Study on a New Ignition Method of the Spark Gap Based on Plasma Ejection in Air

Impedance Characteristics of Pulsed Atmospheric Electrical Discharge in Spherical Plasma Switch

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