Pulsed corona generation using a diode-based pulsed power generator

Abstract

Pulsed plasma techniques serve a wide range of unconventional processes, such as gas and water processing, hydrogen production, and nanotechnology. Extending research on promising applications, such as pulsed corona processing, depends to a great extent on the availability of reliable, efficient and repetitive high-voltage pulsed power technology. Heavy-duty opening switches are the most critical components in high-voltage pulsed power systems with inductive energy storage. At the Ioffe Institute, an unconventional switching mechanism has been found, based on the fast recovery process in a diode. This article discusses the application of such a ''drift-step-recovery-diode'' for pulsed corona plasma generation. The principle of the diode-based nanosecond high-voltage generator will be discussed. The generator will be coupled to a corona reactor via a transmission-line transformer. The advantages of this concept, such as easy voltage transformation, load matching, switch protection and easy coupling with a dc bias voltage, will be discussed. The developed circuit is tested at both a resistive load and various corona reactors. Methods to optimize the energy transfer to a corona reactor have been evaluated. The impedance matching between the pulse generator and corona reactor can be significantly improved by using a dc bias voltage. At good matching, the corona energy increases and less energy reflects back to the generator. Matching can also be slightly improved by increasing the temperature in the corona reactor. More effective is to reduce the reactor pressure.

Strong Density Gradients in Postdischarges in Argon and Air

“…After bridging, the discharge goes over into a spark, and the current goes up to as much as the power supply can deliver. The present power supply has inductive storage with a diode opening switch [2] and is able to deliver a current of up to 200 A in argon and 100 A in air. The total energy per single discharge is ∼10 mJ in argon and ∼5 mJ in air.…”

Plasma-Driven Water Assisted CO₂ Methanation

“…To produce a nonthermal plasma with this setup, utilization of a standard fast pulse 30-kV capacitor-sparkgap switch configuration appeared to be insufficient. Therefore, a 65-kV drift-step-recoverydiode-based pulse source topology has been applied; details are presented in [20]. Characteristic pulse voltage and current 0093-3813 © 2015 IEEE.…”

Subnanosecond pulsed power generator with avalanche transistor Marx circuit

“…The latter include, but are not limited to, material processing and surface modification, air and water purification, and medical treatment [5]- [8]. All-solid state pulser, based on fast ionization device (FID), can output high-repetition andstability pulse in [5] [6]. To increase output peak-voltage, Marx circuit is used in [7].…”