High-energy pulsed-power conditioning and switching for flux-compression generators

Devices based on the flux-compression process provide extremely effective and inexpensive alternatives to the capacitor bank as a means of generating high-current and high-energy pulses. The energy is however released at too slow a rate for many applications and, when a fast-rising current is to be driven through a high-impedance load, one or more stages of pulse sharpening are necessary between the compressor and the load. After examining the concepts that are involved in the magnetic energy transfer process, this article describes typical opening and closing switches for use in each stage of the conditioning