Development of a hermetically sealed, high-energy trigatron switch for high repetetion rate applications

Triggered gas switches increase the reliability and repeatability of pulsed power systems. In particular, the performance of high-power, repetitively rated impulse generators is greatly enhanced by including a triggered switc h, Impulse generators generally consist of cascaded energy storage elements , and the pulse-to-pulse voltage variations depend, to the first order, on the consistency of the voltage in the first energy storage stage. Thus, a r epetitively operated trigatron has been developed to discharge a low-induct ance, 70-J primary capacitor bank with very repeatable voltage at a pulse r epetition frequency of 600 Hz. In order to simplify the pulsed power for mobile field-testing, it is desir able to seal the spark gaps to eliminate the need for a gas reservoir. Alth ough high-pressure spark gaps have been sealed previously, long-term contai nment has not been pursued. To operate at high-pulse repetition frequencies , hydrogen, which is notoriously hard to seal at high pressures, must be us ed for its superior recovery properties. The hermetic seal was achieved by the careful selection of materials and fabrication techniques and designed for at least one year of use without refreshing.