High-voltage and high-current automatic crowbar

In one common type of single-shot high-current crowbar, a short-circuit pat h is created by the deliberate failure of the solid insulation separating t wo conductors, by either the explosive fusing of a conductor carrying the c ircuit current or the controlled firing of a detonator circuit. Unfortunate ly, in neither technique does the voltage between the conductors directly i nitiate the explosion, nor is the crowbar necessarily closed within a set r ange of the circuit voltage. This paper describes a novel switch that overc omes this difficulty. Semiconductor devices are connected such that they ex plode and break through the insulation shortly after the voltage between th e conductors moves outside a set range.