10/350- $\mu\hbox {s}$ Crowbar Pulse Current System

This paper presents a novel crowbar system of 10/350-μs pulse current. The crowbar pulse current system includes a crowbar pulse current waveform forming circuit, a controlling unit, and a measuring unit. The crowbar pulse current circuit consists of a main air triggered switch, a triggered vacuum switch (TVS) which is used as the crowbar switch, and two trigger signal generators. A kind of TVS is designed and fabricated. Its triggering characteristics are tested, and experimental results show that, compared with other reported similar switches, the TVS has excellent characteristics such as wide operating voltage scope from 1.3 to 120 kV, short discharging delay time with maximum delay time at 400 ns, and its jitter at ±10 ns. Based on the TVS, the crowbar 10/350-μs pulse current circuit and its controlling circuit are designed. With a 36-μF storage capacitor C and a 6-μH waveform forming inductance L, a 10/350-μs pulse current waveform with a maximum of 150 kA can be generated.