Evaluation of a RVU-43 switch as the closing switch for a modular 300 kJ pulse power supply for ETC application

Eight 300 W capacitor bank modules are being assembled for the Korean ETC p rogram. Six self-healing capacitors (22 kV, 50 kJ) are used as a capacitor bank module and a RVU-43 switch is used as main pulse power closing switch for each module. Pulse power inductors of 20 muH to 160 muH are used to obt ain the required current pulse width and each module is crowbarred by three parallel crowbar diode stacks. Several kinds of high current switch for ca pacitive pulse power system were considered, The RW-43 switch was selected because it is much cheaper than thyristors and has rectifying capability af ter passing the current zero. Performance test for the Russian-made RVU-43 (Max rating: 25 kV, 200 kA, 120 Coulomb) switch have been conducted and the results for self-breakdown voltage, minimum operating voltage, turn-on del ay, reverse current blocking ability and switch loss are presented.