Xin-Bing Cheng’s research while affiliated with National University of Defense Technology and other places

In this study, the authors provide results of the precisely synchronized triggering of an intense electron beam accelerator (IEBA). The trigger generator was composed of a fractional-turn ratio saturable-pulse transformer and a compact six-stage Marx generator. The main switch of the IEBA was a corona-stabilized triggered switch (CSTS) based on the stabilized corona mechanism. The output voltage of a single IEBA exceeded 500 kV with less than 4 ns of jitter on a 50 Ω dummy load. We also conducted an experiment on the synchronous triggering of two IEBAs by using two independent trigger generators. The synchronization-related jitter was 6.1 ns, while the average time difference was 1.3 ns. We used this to attempt to trigger two parallel IEBAs by using a single trigger generator. The results showed a reduction in the synchronization-related jitter of 31% to 4.2 ns. The designs of the CSTS and the trigger generator guaranteed a precisely synchronous trigger by using a single trigger generator. Thus, the proposed method appears to be promising for accurately and synchronously triggering multiple IEBAs by using a single trigger generator. This provides an effective method to generate pulses with high power.

In this paper, an all-solid-state high voltage trigger generator is developed, which is aimed at triggering a several gigawatts three-electrode spark gap of an intense electron beam accelerator (IEBA). As one of the most important parts for triggering the IEBA precisely, it is developed based on a fractional-turn ratio saturable pulse transformer and a compact six-stage Marx generator. A pulse of rising time 141 ns and amplitude 79.6 kV is obtained on the 1000 Ω dummy load. The trigger is operated at pulsed repetition frequency over 10 Hz for testing its operational stability. The jitter counted from the initial control signal to the falling edge of the pulse is 0.64 ns. In addition, experiments of three-minute continuous repetitive operations at 10 Hz and higher frequency are carried out. The results show that the trigger generator has high stability even in long-time operations. So far, it successfully applies to the main switch of IEBA with a breakdown voltage of over 500 kV, and a total system jitter of 6.7 ns is acquired.

Glycerin is a promising liquid dielectric for pulsed power systems because of its high storage energy density and high resistivity. In order to further improve the energy storage density of glycerin, its breakdown characteristics should be investigated. In this paper, experiments are carried out to study the decline of the breakdown voltage of glycerin in a repetitive pulsed pulse forming line (PFL) in both the single pulse mode and the repetitive pulsed mode. It is shown that the breakdown voltage of the glycerin PFL is reduced by about 35% after 100 pulses in 10 s. The bubbles in glycerin are suspected to be an important factor affecting the breakdown characteristics. By using a high-speed camera, the deformation of bubbles (especially the height) is observed in the experiments and the deformation of bubbles is cumulative after multiple pulses. Experiments confirm that the bubbles’ height is influenced by factors including the electric field, pressure, and temperature. These experimental results demonstrate an important process of the liquid breakdown in the repetitive pulsed mode, which will be helpful to improve the breakdown characteristics of liquid dielectrics.

The design, construction, and operational characteristics of a low-impedance and low pulse drop transmission line transformer (TLT) are described in this paper. The multicore coaxial transmission line used for this transformer is different from traditional coaxial transmission line since its inner conductor consists of several high-voltage cables that are connected in parallel by using two metal disks placed at both ends of them. Simultaneously, the impedance of the coaxial transmission lines with ten cables designed in this paper is perfectly reduced from 60 to $13.5~\Omega$ . Moreover, the transmission lines can withstand a high voltage of several tens of kilovolts with 13.9 mm in diameter. The transmission lines were then used to construct TLTs. The transformers are wound inductively in separated cylinders made of polypropylene to enhance the isolation from the input to the output of the transformers. Consequently, the pulse drop is substantially reduced, minimizing pulse distortion in the transformer. A three-stage TLT, whose input and output impedances are 4.5 and $40.5~\Omega$ , respectively, was developed with the transmission lines. The experimental results show that the three-stage transformer based on the low-impedance and low pulse drop design transmission lines can achieve a voltage gain factor of almost 3.0.

In this paper, an approximately scaled coaxial test device is designed and constructed to study the breakdown characteristics of glycerin dielectric in pulse forming lines (PFLs). In the test device, factors affecting the breakdown strength of the glycerin are investigated, including polarity of high voltage, applied gas pressure, temperature, magnetic field, and the electrode surface characteristics. The time and temperature characteristics of the glycerin resistivity are investigated as well. The results show that glycerin has extremely high and stable resistivity, and its breakdown field strength is independent of the polarity of the applied electric field. As the nitrogen gas pressure is applied up to 2 MPa on the glycerin, the breakdown field strength is increased by 40%. When the temperature is changed from 10 to 55 °C, the breakdown field strength reduces from 310 to 165 kV/cm. It is also found that there is no effect on the breakdown field strength of glycerin on magnetic field under 1T. Moreover, the filling process of the glycerin PFL is investigated for exhausting the gas as far as possible. The glycerin PFL has been employed in pulsed power generators, and some breakdown problems in the practical application have been solved.

High speed framing camera (HSFC) could be used to capture the image of the electron beams generated by the intense electron-beam accelerator (IEBA), and it is useful to visualize the evolution of discharging and plasma generation phenomenon. So an overview of the application of HSFC on the IEBA is presented. First, we introduce the synchronization problem of HSFC and IEBA, and a synchronization trigger system which could provide a trigger signal with rise time of 17 ns and amplitude of about 5 V is presented. Second, an imaging system based on IEBA, HSFC, and the synchronization trigger system is developed, and it can be used to image the developmental process of plasma in the output vacuum chamber of IEBA and to measure the electrical parameter of IEBA and electrical trigger signal in real time. Furthermore, the imaging system is used to investigate the developmental process of the electron beam of the A-K gap in vacuum under 180 nanosecond quasi-square pulses. It is obtained that the short A-K gap is closed prematurely under long pulse operation with plasma expansion velocity of about 6.25 cm/µs and the light emission in the A-K gap region has the characteristics of “re-ignition” with light duration time about 3800 ns. At last, the discharging process of surface flashover channel of poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) insulator with gap spacing of 170 mm in vacuum under nanosecond quasi-square pulses is studied by the imaging system, and the change of luminosity is analyzed during the surface flashover process.

As the development of the pulsed power technology, high voltage pulse transformer (HVPT) is usually used instead of Marx generator as a charging device for the pulse forming line (PFL) of intense electron-beam accelerator (IEBA), and which make the IEBA compact. However, during the operation of the IEBA, the HVPT may be destroyed for the failure of electrical insulation and the over-voltage. So in this paper, the output voltage characteristics of IEBA, characteristics of the voltage at the output terminal of HVPT at four kinds of load conditions are analyzed, including load matching, load short, load open, and surface flashover in the vacuum chamber. It is found that load short, load open, and surface flashover in vacuum chamber will affect the voltage at the output terminal of HVPT, and an oscillation wave could be formed, which affect the electrical insulation of HVPT and decrease the lifetime of HVPT. Meanwhile, the waveform of the load voltage is also modified, especially at the conditions of load open and surface flashover in vacuum chamber. When the load is open, the amplitude of the output main pulse of IEBA is twice the charging voltage of BPFL. However, the amplitude of the output pulse of IEBA is modified by the voltage at the output terminal of HVPT, and the resistance of main switch channel has a great effect on the amplitude of the load voltage. When surface flashover occurs in the vacuum chamber, the pulse duration of the output voltage will be decreased. So, during the operation of IEBA, load short, load open and surface flashover in vacuum chamber should be avoided.

The Blumlein pulse forming line (BPFL) consisting of an inner coaxial pulse forming line (PFL) and an outer coaxial PFL is widely used in the field of pulsed power, especially for intense electron-beam accelerators (IEBA). The output voltage waveform determines the quality and characteristics of the output beam current of the IEBA. Comparing with the conventional BPFL, an IEBA based on a strip spiral type BPFL can increase the duration of the output voltage in the same geometrical volume. However, for the spiral type BPFL, the voltage waveform on a matched load may be distorted, which influences the electron-beam quality. In this paper, the output waveform of an IEBA based on strip spiral BPFL is analyzed. It is found that there is fluctuation on the flattop of the main pulse, and the flatness is increased with the increment of the output voltage. According to the time integrated pictures of the cathode holder during the operation of the IEBA, the electron emission of the cathode holder is one of the reasons to cause the variance of the flatness. Furthermore, the distribution of the current density of spiral middle cylinder of the BPFL is calculated by using electromagnetic simulation software, and it is obtained that the current density is not uniform, and which leads to the nonuniformity of the impedance of BPFL. Meanwhile, when the nonuniformity of the BPFL is taken into account, the operation of the whole accelerator is simulated using a circuit-simulation code called PSpice. It is obtained that the nonuniformity of the BPFL influences the flatness of the output voltage waveform. In order to get an ideal square pulse voltage waveform and to improve the electron beam quality of such an accelerator, the uniformity of the spiral middle cylinder should be improved and the electron emission of the cathode holder should be avoided. The theoretical analysis and simulated output voltage waveform shows reasonable agreement with that of the experimental results.

High-voltage vacuum insulator failure is generally due to surface flashover rather than insulator bulk breakdown. To study the characteristic of surface flashover channel, a diagnosis system to obtain the images of flashover channel is fabricated using a high speed frame camera, and results are presented by an investigation into the flashover of poly-methyl methacrylate insulator with gap spacing of 170 mm in vacuum under 180 ns quasi-square pulses. It is obtained that after formation of the flashover channel, the impedance of the flashover channel is inductive and the waveform of the measured voltage is determined by the inductance of the flashover channel directly.

An experimental investigation of surface flashover characteristics in vacuum pressure of 1.3×10-2 Pa (10-4 Torr) was introduced by using a quasi-square pulse generated by an intense electron beam accelerator (IEBA) with duration of 180 ns and voltage of 180-300 kV, and the gap spacing length was varied from 100 to 210 mm. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), High density Polyethylene plastics (HDPE) and Polyamide (PA) were chosen as the investigating insulator dielectrics in this paper. The effects of insulator material, applied voltage and gap spacing length on the surface flashover characteristics are presented. Meanwhile, the delay time, flashover current and impedance of the flashover channel are also discussed.