High voltage pulse power converter
AssigneeRockwell International Corporation
InventorRichard J. Sojka
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A high voltage pulse power converter comprises a modified type E pulse charging network (74) in series with a nonlinear magnetic switch (76). The network comprises a ladder of charging elements (78) each of which comprises a shunt section of a pulse charging module (80) in parallel with a pulse receiving capacitor (82), and a series section comprising an inductance (84). The pulse charging module (80) steps up power from a low voltage power supply (102) through a transformer (110) to charge the pulse receiving capacitors (82); the pulse receiving capacitors (82) discharge simultaneously when sufficient volt seconds have been applied to the nonlinear magnetic switch (76).
Claims6
A high voltage pulse power converter comprising a nonlinear magnetic switch (76) and a ladder (74) of pulse forming network charging elements (78), the nonlinear magnetic switch (76) and the ladder (74) being connected in series, and each charging element (78) including means (98, 100) for receiving low voltage power (102), and means (110) for transforming said low voltage power to high voltage power.
A high voltage pulse power converter comprising a nonlinear magnetic switch (76) and a ladder (74) of pulse forming network charging elements (78), the nonlinear magnetic switch (76) and the ladder (74) being connected in series, and each charging element (78) including means (98, 100) for receiving low voltage power (102), wherein:
- (a) each charging element (78) comprises:
- (1) a shunt section connected between a first node (86) and a second node (88), the shunt section comprising a pulse charging module (80) and a pulse receiving capacitor (82), the pulse charging module (80) and the pulse receiving capacitor (82) being connected in parallel, the pulse charging module (80) including the means (98, 100) for receiving low voltage power (102), and the pulse charging module (80) including means for producing and delivering high voltage power (110) to the pulse receiving capacitor (82);
- and
- (2) a series section connected between the second node (88) and a third node (90), the series section comprising an inductance (84);
- (b) the first node (86) of each element (78) other than a highest element (94) is connected to the first node (86) of a next higher element (78), thereby forming a common first node (92) of the ladder (74);
- (c) the third node (90) of each element (78) other than the highest element (94) is connected to the second node (88) of the next higher element (78), the third node (96) of the highest element (94) forming a third node (96) of the ladder (74);
- and
- (d) the nonlinear magnetic switch (76) is connected in series with the first (92) or third (96) node of the ladder (74).
A method of converting low voltage power to high voltage pulse power, comprising:
- (a) transforming, at each of a plurality of ladder connected charging elements (78), low voltage power to high voltage power;
- (b) charging each charging element (78) with the high voltage power;
- (c) discharging each charging element (78) other than a highest charging element (94) into a next higher charging element (78);
- and
- (d) discharging the highest charging element (94) through a nonlinear magnetic switch (76).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.