Development of 1MV steep-front and longduration square impulse voltage generator

The basic design and performance of a newly developed 1MV steep-front and long-duration square impulse voltage generator, named “SPARK”, are described. Advanced pulsed-power technology and elaborate circuit design enable an ideal square impulse voltage waveform, in which the rise time of the wavefront is shorter than 20ns and a long flat-topped voltage crest continues up to 10µs, to be generated. Experimental results of sparkover voltage and time (V-t) characteristics in SF6 gas measured using “SPARK” are also presented.