Power Flow in the POS-to-Load Transition Region

This paper provides analysis of experiments aimed at defining the capabilities of plasma opening switch (POS) for energy transfer to a load of inductance comparable with the inductance of the energy store vacuum section. The analysis is performed using the substantiated technique that allows quantitative estimation of the POS efficiency. Under the same conditions with a conduction current of ~1 MA and POS voltage of ~1 MV, the energy transferred to the load depends strongly on the transmission line design. When the electrode gap in the line is ~1 cm, the energy delivered to the load is ~40 kJ. Increasing the gap to ~4-cm increases this energy to ~100 kJ.