Compact PFL based on ceramic blocks

We describe the design, construction and testing of a highly compact pulse forming line design which addresses a requirement for a compact pulse power source producing a trapezoidal output waveform up to 35kV into a load impedance of 12.5Ω. The complete unit has width, depth and height of 48cm×34cm×10cm and fits into a 19″ rack together with capacitor charging power supply and control unit. The PFL is a charge line formed from two rows of rectangular ceramic blocks. The blocks are a low loss commercial grade ceramic produced by Morgan Matroc. EM design studies showed how the PFL can be folded to reduce the overall footprint. The charge line output switch is a mid-plane triggered spark gap. The trigger electrode is driven by an e2V pulse transformer which itself is driven by a power electronic unit. The output voltage pulse can be set to the range 20–35kV with a fixed pulse width of ∼30ns.