High Voltage Solid State Crowbar- and Low Repetition Rate Switches

To improve reliability of crowbar systems and high current, high voltage non-repetitive solid-state switches, some designs based on thyristor technology are presented. Reason to go for solid state is to improve the reliability level, which cannot be obtained with gas discharge switches. A comparison between both technologies is given. Reliability is especially important to Electron Beam Dump systems and Capacitor Bank safety systems. This presentation describes the specification, electrical- and mechanical design on crowbar switches for 52 kV dc/ 1.5 kA, 30 kV dc/25 kA and 21 kV dc/200 kA. Also a multichip device 13.5 kV dc /140 kA for high di/dt discharge applications will be introduced.