| 摘要 |
<p>A plasma gun (20) with two gap electrodes on opposite ends of a chamber (28) of ablative material (26) such as an ablative polymer. The gun ejects an ablative plasma (34) at supersonic speed. A divergent nozzle (30) spreads the plasma jet to fill a gap (58) between electrodes of a main arc device (50), such as an arc crowbar (70) or a high voltage power switch. The plasma triggers the main arc device (50) by lowering the impedance of the main arc gap (58) via the ablative plasma (34) to provide a conductive path between the main electrodes. This provides faster triggering and requires less trigger energy than previous arc triggers. It also provides a more conductive initial main arc than previously possible. The initial properties of the main arc are controllable by the plasma properties, which are in turn controllable by design parameters of the ablative plasma gun.</p> |
