TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of a triggered 50 kV, 100 Hz, sub-ns jitter high pressure gas switch with pressure, trigger magnitude and gas temperature
AU - Chen, Y.
AU - Dickens, J.
AU - Mankowski, J.
AU - Kristiansen, M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is supported by the office of Naval Research.
PY - 2011/8
Y1 - 2011/8
N2 - Research efforts at Texas Tech University on impulse antenna phased array has resulted in the development of a dependable high voltage, high repetition rate switch that can minimize jitter into the ps range. To accurately synchronize a phased array to steer and preserve the risetime of a radiated pulse, the jitter can only be a fraction of this risetime. Initial testing with a similar system in [1] produced sub-ns jitter results for operations in different gases and gas mixtures. This paper discusses in detail 50 kV, 100 Hz switch operations using different testing parameters. The switch jitter as a function of triggering conditions is discussed, including a comprehensive evaluation of jitter as a function of operation pressure as well as trigger magnitude. Several phenomenon were observed and discussed to quantify the switch jitter with respect to operation pressure and trigger magnitude. The temperature of gas and its effects on switch jitter is also documented in this paper, with a jitter improvement of ∼25% recorded. An empirical formula was determined as a function of the gas density, electric field of the main gap, and electric field for the trigger for the experiments conducted in this manuscript. A 50Ω, 1 nF pulse forming line is charged to 50 kV and provides the low inductance voltage source to test the switch. The hermetically sealed spark gap, with a modular design composed of copper tungsten electrodes, gas feeds, Kel-F lining, as a well as a G-10 shell is used to house the high pressure gases for the experiments. Trigatron-type triggering is provided by a solid state opening switch voltage source that supplies 75-150 kV, 10 ns risetime pulses at a rep rate up to 100 Hz in burst mode.
AB - Research efforts at Texas Tech University on impulse antenna phased array has resulted in the development of a dependable high voltage, high repetition rate switch that can minimize jitter into the ps range. To accurately synchronize a phased array to steer and preserve the risetime of a radiated pulse, the jitter can only be a fraction of this risetime. Initial testing with a similar system in [1] produced sub-ns jitter results for operations in different gases and gas mixtures. This paper discusses in detail 50 kV, 100 Hz switch operations using different testing parameters. The switch jitter as a function of triggering conditions is discussed, including a comprehensive evaluation of jitter as a function of operation pressure as well as trigger magnitude. Several phenomenon were observed and discussed to quantify the switch jitter with respect to operation pressure and trigger magnitude. The temperature of gas and its effects on switch jitter is also documented in this paper, with a jitter improvement of ∼25% recorded. An empirical formula was determined as a function of the gas density, electric field of the main gap, and electric field for the trigger for the experiments conducted in this manuscript. A 50Ω, 1 nF pulse forming line is charged to 50 kV and provides the low inductance voltage source to test the switch. The hermetically sealed spark gap, with a modular design composed of copper tungsten electrodes, gas feeds, Kel-F lining, as a well as a G-10 shell is used to house the high pressure gases for the experiments. Trigatron-type triggering is provided by a solid state opening switch voltage source that supplies 75-150 kV, 10 ns risetime pulses at a rep rate up to 100 Hz in burst mode.
KW - Impulse antenna
KW - formative delay
KW - gas mixtures
KW - gas temperature
KW - high repetition rate switch
KW - low jitter
KW - phased array
KW - recovery rate
KW - sub-ns
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80051709592&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TDEI.2011.5976084
DO - 10.1109/TDEI.2011.5976084
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:80051709592
SN - 1070-9878
VL - 18
SP - 975
EP - 982
JO - IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
JF - IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
IS - 4
M1 - 5976084
ER -