Status of KERI´s Pulsed Power Research and Development

This paper reviews the research and development results achieved in the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) in a decade. KERI develops pulsed power technology and its applications are mostly based on power electronics. KERI´s research and development activity covers components, military systems, and industry applications. High-voltage switching means developed in KERI are a rotary arc gap (RAG) switch (11 kV and 400 kAp), a vacuum RAG (20 kV and 150 kAp), an inverse pinch switch (20 kV and 150 kAp), and 10-kV semiconductor switch stacks made of thyristors and Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs). The IGBT and thyristor stacks consist of 10 or 12 1.2-kV discrete devices and are operated by only one active drive circuit installed in the groundside. Some ferromagnetic opening switch schemes are also researched on trial bases. Some of KERI´s research and development works from devices to application systems will be described.