Multiple-gap spark gap switch

A triggered multiple-gap spark gap switch has been developed and tested under atmosphere. By means of an LCR trigger circuit, the multiple-gap switch can be used very reliably. For the same switching voltage (35.5kV), with increasing the number of gaps from 2 to 6, the switching current rise time is reduced from 13.5to6ns, and the energy efficiency is increased from 87% to 92%. An eight-gap switch was also tested, and the switching current rise time is much smaller than the usable rise time of the current probe (3.5ns). One interesting application of the multiple-gap switch is to improve the switching performance in the multiple-switch and transmission lines based pulsed power circuit. To verify this application, a six-gap switch was tested. In contrast to a single-gap switch, the output current rise time was improved from 21to11ns by the six-gap switch.