On the Performance of Triggered Closing Switches Deployed in High Explosive Pulsed Power Experiments

Reported in this paper are the results of efforts to improve the performance of a triggered closing switch system used in a 450 kilojoule capacitor bank, which is used as a seed current source for magnetic flux compression generator experiments. The capacitor bank switch utilizes two different high power closing switches: a commercial-off-the-shelf pressurized spark gap and a custom designed solid dielectric puncture switch. Discussion of the spark gap will focus on the results of an investigation aimed at determining the pre-fire rates, self-break voltage distributions, function times and jitter characteristics of two different switches. A campaign aimed at improving the function time and jitter of a Mylar® solid dielectric puncture switch resulted in almost a two-fold decrease in switching characteristics after reducing the thickness of the solid dielectric.