Cold cathode switching device and converter
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsTimothy John SOMMERER, Joseph Darryl MICHAEL, David John SMITH, Sergey Joseph ZALUBOVSKY
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Abstract
A cold-cathode switching device is presented. The cold-cathode switching device (100) includes a housing (110) defining a chamber (111); an ionizable gas (112) disposed in the chamber; and a plurality of electrodes (120) disposed in the chamber. The plurality of electrodes includes a cathode (124) and an anode (122) defining a discharge gap, and wherein at least one of the cathode and anode comprises a material (140) that is liquid at an operating temperature of the cathode or the anode.
Claims18
A cold-cathode switching device, comprising:
- a housing defining a chamber;
- an ionizable gas disposed in the chamber;
- and
- a plurality of electrodes disposed in the chamber, wherein the plurality of electrodes comprise a cathode and an anode defining a discharge gap,
- wherein at least one of the cathode and the anode comprises a material that is liquid and substantially non-volatile at an operating temperature of the cathode or the anode, and
- the ionizable gas comprises hydrogen, helium, deuterium, or combinations thereof, and the cold-cathode switching device is configured such that the ionizable gas is disposed in the chamber during substantially all phases of operation.
A power converter, comprising:
- an input section;
- an output section;
- and
- at least one cold-cathode switching device electrically coupled between the input section and the output section, wherein the cold-cathode switching device is configured to convert an alternating current to direct current, or direct current to alternating current, and wherein the cold-cathode switching device comprises:
- a housing defining a chamber;
- an ionizable gas disposed in the chamber;
- and
- a plurality of electrodes disposed in the chamber, wherein the plurality of electrodes comprise a cathode and an anode defining a discharge gap,
- wherein at least one of the cathode and the anode comprises a material that is liquid and substantially non-volatile at an operating temperature of the cathode or the anode, and
- the ionizable gas comprises hydrogen, helium, deuterium, or combinations thereof, and the cold-cathode switching device is configured such that the ionizable gas is disposed in the chamber during substantially all phases of operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.