Operation of a Triggered Vacuum Flashover Switch on Pawn

Abstract

Pawn is a prototype inductive storage pulsed power generator with two switching stages. The first stage is a wire fuse array driven by a low voltage (~40 kV) capacitor bank, and the second stage is a fast opening vacuum switch such as a plasma erosion opening switch. A triggered vacuum flashover switch isolates the fuse stage from the second stage during fuse conduction. The switch consists of an insulating ring sandwiched between electrodes. Ultraviolet light and plasma from small spark discharges initiate a flashover of the insulator surface to close the switch. The trigger command is sent by fiber optic link.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA638383

Entities

People

  • D. J. Jenkins
  • J. C. Kellogg
  • J. D. Shipman Jr.
  • John R. Boller
  • R. D. Ford
  • Robert J. Commisso
  • W. H. Lupton

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Capacitors
  • Current Density
  • Dielectrics
  • Electrodes
  • Equivalent Circuits
  • Ferrites
  • Generators
  • Inductance
  • Information Operations
  • Military Research
  • Power
  • Pulse Generators
  • Pulsed Power
  • Switches
  • Switching
  • Vacuum
  • Voltage

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics