All-solid-state Bipolar High Voltage Nanosecond Pulse Adder with Output Parameters Adjustable

Nanosecond high voltage pulse generators are widely used in dielectric barrier discharge, plasma jet, corona discharge in water, et al. In this paper, a novel bipolar pulse adder with output parameters adjustable is proposed. Several full bridge units are connected in series, and the storage capacitor in each unit is charged individually by a high-frequency resonant power supply. The charging process is analyzed. The influence of balance windings on voltage difference between storage capacitors is also studied. The results show that voltage difference changes with switching frequency. Without the balance windings, voltage unbalance is small at the switching frequency from 20 to 30 kHz. Optic fibers, together with gate drivers, are used to drive the Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs). Each switch can be turned on or off independently to change the rise/falling time. Finally, a 6-stage prototype has been developed in laboratory, which can generate bipolar pulses with amplitude, repetition rate, pulse width, and rise/falling time adjustable independently.