Study of Discharging Characteristics of Hollow Cathode Surge Protective Gap

Abstract

A hollow cathode surge protective gap (HCSPG) was designed, and the discharge characteristics was investigated in an air and nitrogen gas environment. For both the gap spacing D and the hole diameter φ of HCSPG of 3 mm, the voltage protective value Up of HCSPG is about 3.5 kV and its converting time tc exceeds 100 ns at an air pressure from 10 Pa to 100 Pa. The maximum converting time tc from glow to arc discharging reaches 1600 ns at an air pressure of 100 Pa, while the minimum converting time tc is 120 ns at 10 Pa. For a triggered HCSPG, Up is reduced to about 1.6 kV while the converting time is 120 ns with a semiconductor trigger device and 50 ns with a dielectric porcelain trigger device under an air pressure of 100 Pa.

An Active Triggered Surge Protective Gap

“…Triggering technology, including electric breakdown and the surface flashover trigger method, has been widely used in discharging switches [10∼14] . The hollow cathode surge protective gap has been studied and the experimental results show that the pulse breakdown voltage and response time can be decreased by using surface flashover trigger technology, with its pulse voltage ratio equal to about 2 [8] .…”

Energy deposition in discharge chamber of lightning protection multichamber system

“…For example, the active controlled surge protective gas-discharge arresters with tracking system [4][5][6] has appeared. One of the most perspective elements for lightning-protective complex constructions is a system of multichamber arresters [7,8] designed by Streamer, Electric Company Inc [9].…”