Pulse Power Generator electronics design and construct

Overview

Pulse power shows great promise for many applications including air and water purification. Repetitive Pulse Power Generators (PPGs) generate medium frequency power pulses (few kW) with small duration (few us to few ns) and with repetition frequencies of a few hundred Hz to a few kHz (see DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2947632 for more info).

The PPGs are constructed from series connected cells often in Marx generator like structures, but with active semiconductor switches such as MOSFETs in place of the traditional spark gaps or thyristors. New Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices are making high voltage high speed switching more readily accessible than before.

Research activities

Simulate the electronics of an active SiC MOSFET half bridge Marx cell for a Pulse Power Generator using a SPICE like circuit simulator.  Create a circuit schematic and PCB for a prototype cell and test.  Cascade three (or more) of these cells.

Outcomes

Voltage isolation of the gate drive power and logic signals for these cascaded half bridge cells suitable for a PPG is a non trivial task.  Demonstrating a simple half bridge cell which can be cascaded to achieve high voltages (tens of kV) is the key goal.

Skills and experience

Experience with SPICE, either LTspice or Qspice is needed.  Experience with PCB layout is needed, either KiCad or Altium.  Experience with Power electronics would be helpful.

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Keywords

• Marx generator
• Electronics

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.