Quick charging Blumlein PFL

A new type of compact, discharge-switch free Blumelein PFL has been developed for pulse-power applications. Here, a saturable charging inductor of amorphous cores is utilized to obtain a fast charging of the line. In the initial test, the intermediate conductor of PFL is charged up to +300 kV by a fast Marx generater in ~220 ns. After the charging, a magnetic switch of amorphous core is saturated and output of -290 kV, 50 kA, 60 ns is generated. On this phase, charging inductor acts as a step-up transformer and produces a doubled voltage pulse to the load. Output pulse of -580 kV, 24 kA is obtained with current rise time less than 16 ns. The energy transfer efficiency (output pulse energy/charging energy of PFL) is estimated to be more than 92%.