Design and testing of a rotary arc gap-switch for pulsed power

One of the key issues in pulsed power generation and its application is swi tch technology. The sn;itches are divided into two categories of opening an d closing switches, The most popular closing snitches to date are spark-gap switches. The closing snitches have a very limited lifetime due to are corrosion resu lting from the pinch effect and localized are heating [Hare ct nl, (1975)], Electrode phenomena in high-current carrying switch and transient phases i n intense arcing modes are presented in papers by Prucker and Christiansen (1977) and Lehr er al, (1987), To extend the switch lifetime by minimizing electrode-vaporization, rotary are gap-switches are investigated in papers by Kumar and Pramanik (1995), Desaulniers-Soucy and Meunier (1995)? Gulie a nd Sloot (1975), and Yasko (1969), In those switches, rotation of the are c an be achieved by providing a rotating magnetic field from outside or by a self-induced magnetic held, Extensive experimental and theoretical investig ations on are characteristics and are velocities in ring-type spark gaps ar e reported in papers by Gulie and Sloot (1975) and Yasko (1969), This paper investigates a rotating are gap (RAG) switch driven by self-indu ced magnetic field. The physical dimensions, rotating are speed, are voltag e drop, and its experimental setup are described in detail.