Pulsed voltage converter with bipolar output voltages up to 10 kV for Dielectric Barrier Discharge

For pulsed power applications special pulsed voltage converters are needed. This paper presents an approach for a pulsed power converter, which generates bipolar output voltages up to 10 kV with extremely fast voltage slopes and high repetition rates. The topology is based on a H-bridge with a 10 kV dc-link. The output voltage and current of the pulsed voltage converter are adapted for the operation with Dielectric Barrier Discharge. To avoid the use of spark gaps due to their limited lifetime and thus to the lifetime of the converter, series stacked MOSFETs are used to realize a switch with a high blocking voltage. A balancing network for the series stacked MOSFETs is introduced as well as an adequate gate drive circuit. A matching method for the capacitive load is described, to achieve a maximum voltage slope at this capacitive load. To validate the theoretical considerations a prototype and measurements are presented.