As a countermeasure against global warming, not only reduction of carbon dioxide emissions but also reduction of other greenhouse gases is required. In particular, when attempting to reduce the global warming potential of refrigerants, there will be cases in which slightly flammable refrigerants are handled, and it will be necessary to understand their characteristics from a safety perspective. In order to understand the safety characteristics of refrigerants, we have developed a device that can perform high-energy ignition. In this report, we present an overview of the characteristics of the “gap switch” we have fabricated. In this system, “gas switch” is installed between the high voltage power source and discharge gap where we want to control the discharge energy and timing. The breakdown voltage of “gas switch” is designed to be higher than that of discharge gap, and the breakdown of “gas switch” is attempt to be controlled by the spark plug inserted in the gap switch electrode. As a characteristic test results, although the breakdown was not controlled at atmospheric pressure, a controllable voltage ranges from 23 kV to 26 kV when the electrode distance was 3 mm and the pressure was 0.25 MPa (A), and it ranges from 22 kV to 29 kV in 5 mm distance and 0.2 MPa (A) pressure. It will be necessary to estimate the discharge energy in the discharge gap and clarify the discharge pattern in the gap switch area in the future.
FUJIMOTO et al. (Wed,) studied this question.