Simulation of Breakdown Process in a High-Pressure Gas Peaking Switch

Gas peaking switches are among the most important parts in the pulsed power generators. Energy generated by the pulsed power generators is transferred to the load through the peaking switches. Hence the characteristics of the output of the generator is extremely dependent on the behavior of this peaking switches. In this work, the breakdown process in a high pressure gas peaking switch has been simulated and effect of different parameters on the statistical breakdown time and the breakdown voltage of the switch have been investigated. N
₂
/H
₂
mixture at 50atm pressure was used as working gas. Effect of electrodes distance, input voltage rise rate and connected resistor to the switch have been investigated. By increasing the input voltage rise rate, breakdown voltage increased and the breakdown time decreased. By increasing the distance between switch electrodes, breakdown voltage and breakdown time significantly increased. The resistance connected to the switch played an important role in the breakdown voltage and breakdown time of the switch. By increasing the resistance, the switch voltage rise rate decreased and breakdown occurred in lower voltage and longer time.