There is often a dielectric separation barrier between vacuum and water-containing (or oil-containing) sections in pulsed power systems. This barrier must successfully hold off electrical breakdown as the applied electrical pulse is rising and delivering electrical energy to the downstream load. While breakdowns during the falling end of the pulse are somewhat understood to be electron cascade and...Show More
Anode-initiated high-voltage vacuum surface flashover is a prominent failure point in large-scale (megavolt and mega-ampere) pulsed power machines. To investigate the underlying basic mechanisms of anode-initiated vacuum surface flashover, a moderate-scale test platform was developed at the hundreds of kilovolt level to emulate the conditions in large-scale machines. This system comprises a positi...Show More
