95 results about "Pulsed power system" patented technology

The present invention provides for pulsed power breaking and drilling apparatuses and methods. The present invention comprises two pulsed power systems coordinated to fire one right after the other. The first pulsed power system, comprising a spiker, may create a high voltage pulse that breaks down the insulative properties of the substrate and may create an arc channel in the substrate. It is designed for high voltage but low energy, at high impedance. The second pulsed power system, comprising a sustainer, is designed to provide high current into the arc, but at low voltage, thus better matching the impedance of the arc and achieving much more efficient energy transfer.

A long pulse power system for gas discharge lasers. The system includes a sustainer capacitor for accepting a charge from a high voltage pulse power source. A peaking capacitor with a capacitance value of less than half the sustainer capacitance provides the high voltage for the laser discharge.

Examples of the present invention include high electric energy density polymer film capacitors with high dielectric constant, low dielectric dissipation tangent, and low leakage current in a broad temperature range. More particularly, examples include a polymer film capacitor in which the dielectric layer comprise a copolymer of a first monomer (such as tetrafluoroethylene) and a second polar monomer. The second monomer component may be selected from vinylidene fluoride, trifluoroethylene or their mixtures, and optionally other monomers may be included to adjust the mechanical performance. The capacitors can be made by winding metallized films, plain films with metal foils, or hybrid construction where the films comprise the new compositions. The capacitors can be used in DC bus capacitors and energy storage capacitors in pulsed power systems.

The present invention provides a reliable modular production quality excimer laser capable of producing 10 mJ laser pulses in the range of 1000 Hz to 2000 Hz or greater. Replaceable modules include a laser chamber; a pulse power system comprised of three modules; an optical resonator comprised of a line narrowing module and an output coupler module; a wavemeter module, an electrical control module, a cooling water module and a gas control module. Important improvements have been provided in the pulse power unit to produce faster rise time and improved pulse energy control. These improvements include an increased capacity high voltage power supply with a voltage bleed-down circuit for precise voltage trimming, an improved communication module that generates a high voltage pulse from the capacitors charged by the high voltage power supply and amplifies the pulse voltage 23 times with a very fast voltage transformer having a secondary winding consisting of a single four-segment stainless steel rod. A novel design for the compression head saturable inductor greatly reduces the quantity of transformer oil required and virtually eliminates the possibility of oil leakage which in the past has posed a hazard.

Methods and apparatuses for directly charging capacitors in a down-hole pulsed power system used for electrocrushing drilling. An above ground power supply is directly connected to the capacitors. The power supply can be a switching power supply, a DC supply, or an AC supply. Capacitor voltage is monitored and controlled. The system reduces noise caused by coupling control signal cables and the power cable, and does not have the ground swing control problems of other charging schemes. The power may alternatively be provided by microwave transmission.

A method and apparatus for operating a very high repetition gas discharge laser system magnetic switch pulsed power system is disclosed, which may comprise a solid state switch, a charging power supply electrically connected to one side of the solid state switch; a charging inductor electrically connected to the other side of the solid state switch; a deque circuit electrically in parallel with the solid state switch comprising a deque switch; a peaking capacitor electrically connected to the charging inductor, a peaking capacitor charging control system operative to charge the peaking capacitor by opening the deque switch and leaving the solid state switch open and then shutting the solid state switch. The solid state switch may comprise a plurality of solid state switches electrically in parallel.

The present invention provides gas discharge laser systems capable of reliable long-term operation in a production line capacity at repetition rates in the range of 6,000 to 10,0000 pulses power second. Preferred embodiments are configured as KrF, ArF and F₂ lasers used for light sources for integrated circuit lithography. Improvements include a modified high voltage power supply capable for charging an initial capacitor of a magnetic compression pulse power system to precise target voltages 6,000 to 10,0000 times per second and a feedback control for monitoring pulse energy and determining the target voltages on a pulse-by-pulse basis. Several techniques are disclosed for removing discharge created debris from the discharge region between the laser electrodes during the intervals between discharges. In one embodiment the width of the discharge region is reduced from about 3 mm to about 1 mm so that a gas circulation system designed for 4,000 Hz operation could be utilized for 10,000 Hz operation. In other embodiments the gas flow between the electrodes is increased sufficiently to permit 10,000 Hz operation with a discharge region width of 3 mm. To provide these substantial increased gas flow rates, Applicants have disclosed preferred embodiments utilize tangential forms of the prior art but with improved and more powerful motors and novel bearing designs. New bearing designs include both ceramic bearings and magnetic bearings. In other embodiments, some or all of the gas circulation power is provided with a blower located outside the laser chamber. The outside blower can be located in the laser cabinet or in separate location.

An oscillator-amplifier gas discharge laser system and method is disclosed which may comprise a first laser unit which may comprise a first discharge region which may contain an excimer or molecular fluorine lasing gas medium; a first pair of electrodes defining the first discharge region containing the lasing gas medium, a line narrowing unit for narrowing a spectral bandwidth of output laser light pulse beam pulses produced in said first discharge region; a second laser unit which may comprise a second discharge chamber which may contain an excimer or molecular fluorine lasing gas medium; a second pair of electrodes defining the second discharge region containing the lasing gas medium; a pulse power system providing electrical pulses to the first pair of electrodes and to the second pair of electrodes producing gas discharges in the lasing gas medium between the respective first and second pair of electrodes, and laser parameter control mechanism modifying a selected parameter of a selected laser output light pulse beam pulse produced by said gas discharge laser system by controlling the timing of the occurrence of the gas discharge between the first pair of electrodes and the occurrence of the gas discharge between the second pair of electrodes.

A system for charging a capacitor with relatively high energy pulses at a relatively high pulse repetition rate includes a voltage transformer. A resonant circuit is established having an inductor connected to the transformer's low voltage side and a capacitor connected to the transformer's high voltage side. A power supply cooperates with a switch assembly to generate a train of pulses, alternating in polarity, in the circuit. With this arrangement, the transformer core is reset after each pulse. A rectifying circuit operates on the alternating polarity pulses to create a train of constant polarity pulses for charging the capacitor. For the system, the maximum charging voltage is regulated by a control circuit having a probe for measuring the voltage across the charging capacitor. This measured voltage is used by the control circuit to selectively operate the switch assembly and regulate the maximum voltage across the capacitor.

A pulsed power system has an inductive energy storage circuit (42) including a current source (43) and a plasma opening switch (44). The plasma opening switch has a transmission line (51, 52) coupling the current source to a load (41). The plasma opening switch changes from a closed state to an open state when a plasma discharge (45) in the plasma opening switch is driven by magnetic force from a first region along the transmission line to a second region towards the load. Electrical conductors (47, 48) are arranged for providing a stabilizing magnetic field configuration in the first region to magnetically latch the plasma discharge in the first region during charging of the inductive energy storage circuit, and current flowing along the transmission line from the current source to the load tends to disrupt the stabilizing magnetic field configuration and unlatch the plasma discharge from the first region and drive the plasma discharge toward the second region.

The invention discloses a pulse forming network based on a double-capacitor structure and belongs to the technical field of pulse power. The pulse forming network is mainly used for generating high-voltage pulse square waves. A base circuit of the pulse forming network comprises a capacitor C1 and a capacitor C2, a self-inductor LC1 and a self-inductor LC2 of the capacitor C1 and the capacitor C2 and four wired inductors L11, L12, L21 and L22, wherein the capacitance of two capacitors is non-uniform; and a capacitance value of the capacitor C2 is greater than that of the capacitor C1. By adopting high-voltage pulse capacitors as energy storage units, the pulse forming network disclosed by the invention has the advantages of high energy-storing density; and by adopting a double-capacitor pulse forming system, the series of the pulse forming network is reduced, the defect that pulse square waves cannot be formed by a single-capacitor system is overcome and fast leading edge and quasi-pulse square wave output can be realized. The pulse forming network has the advantages of compact structure, small size, high voltage resistance, great energy-storing density and high reliability. The pulse forming system can be applied to pulse power systems with hundred-nanosecond grades.

The present invention provides a gas discharge laser having at least one long-life elongated electrode for producing at least 12 billion high voltage electric discharges in a fluorine containing laser gas. In a preferred embodiment at least one of the electrodes is comprised of a first material having a relatively low anode erosion rate and a second anode material having a relatively higher anode erosion rate. The first anode material is positioned at a desired anode discharge region of the electrode. The second anode material is located adjacent to the first anode material along at least two long sides of the first material. During operation of the laser erosion occurs on both materials but the higher erosion rate of the second material assures that any tendency of the discharge to spread onto the second material will quickly erode away the second material enough to stop the spread of the discharge. In a preferred embodiment the anode is as described above and the cathode is also a two-material electrode with the first material at the discharge region being C26000 brass and the second material being C36000 brass. A pulse power system provides electrical pulses at rates of at least 1 KHz. A blower circulates laser gas between the electrodes at speeds of at least 5 m/s and a heat exchanger is provided to remove heat produced by the blower and the discharges.

An apparatus for producing light includes a chamber that has a plasma discharge region and that contains an ionizable medium. The apparatus also includes a magnetic core that surrounds a portion of the plasma discharge region. The apparatus also includes a pulse power system for providing at least one pulse of energy to the magnetic core for delivering power to a plasma formed in the plasma discharge region that forms a secondary circuit of a transformer. The plasma has a localized high intensity zone.

The present invention discloses a pulse power device based on an annular ceramic solid state line, which includes several pulse forming lines, two charging inductors, and multiple gas switches connected together as a whole based on a Marx voltage superposition; the pulse forming lines are annular pulse forming lines, and an annular surface of each annular pulse forming line is provided with a gas opening; and the annular pulse forming lines successively overlap together to form one column structure, each charging inductor passes through an inner ring of the annular pulse forming line to be disposed inside the column structure, and an annular insulating plate is disposed between every two annular pulse forming lines. The present invention enables the structure to be more compact with the power volume ratio increased by at least 50% comparing with that of the pulse power system currently reported domestically and overseas, while the coaxial design enables more even electric field distribution of the whole device, thereby benefiting reduction of high-voltage breakdown incidents caused by voltage distortion.

An impulse capacitor belongs to the capacitor. A problem of high equivalent series inductance of metallized-film pulse capacitor can be solved. The impulse capacitor is suitable for a pulse power system in which the internal inductance of the capacitor is a nanohenry grade. In the invention, a first group of capacitance film, a first polyester insulation film, a second group of capacitance film, a second polyester insulation film, a third group of capacitance film and a third polyester insulation film are successively wound from inside to outside on a mandrel. A shell is installed out of the third polyester insulation film. Upper end surfaces of the first and second groups of the capacitance films are connected and lower end surfaces are insulated. The lower end surfaces of the second andthe third groups of the capacitance films are connected and the upper end surfaces are insulated. The third group of capacitance film is insulated with the shell. The lower end surface of the first group of capacitance film is taken as a low voltage extraction electrode and is connected with the impulse capacitor shell. The upper end surface of the third group of the capacitance film is taken as high voltage extraction electrode and is connected with a high voltage output terminal of the impulse capacitor. The impulse capacitor can bear the higher application voltage so that the equivalent series inductance of a whole capacitor can be reduced and the nanohenry grade can be reached.

The invention belongs to the technical field of high voltage and high power pulse power switch, in particular to a laser triggered multistage vacuum switch. The laser triggered multistage vacuum switch comprises a laser triggered vacuum clearance, a multistage self-breakdown vacuum clearance and a trigger system; the multistage self-breakdown vacuum clearance is fixed to the upper end of the lasertriggered vacuum clearance through the fastening connecting parts; and a pressure equalizing ring is covered outside the upper insulating shell. According to the invention, the series technique of the laser triggered vacuum clearance and the multistage self-breakdown vacuum clearance is adopted, and the laser triggered vacuum clearance and the multistage self-breakdown vacuum clearance are coordinated each other to achieve the application of the laser triggered multistage vacuum switch in a high voltage, high repetition frequency and high power pulse power system; and multiple channels of laser are used to bombard the trigger target material simultaneously, therefore, the affect area of the laser on the target material is increased, more initial plasmas are generated, and the conduction performance of the laser triggered vacuum switch is further improved. Using the laser triggered multistage vacuum switch, the complex process and high cost required by long term maintenance is avoided.

New and advantageous methods related to the design and manufacture of pulsed power systems for a new generation of higher performance flash lamps are disclosed. A reliable and cost-effective pulsed discharge lamp power supply system is provided that promotes PUV lamp efficiency beyond that which is achievable by means of prior art, thereby similarly decreasing the loss factor for both UV radiation and overall electrical energy. Also disclosed is a pulsed discharge lamp power supply system that serves to help prevent lamp envelope fracture and/or light output degradation resulting from the deleterious effects of intense radiation pulses. The pulsed discharge lamp power supply system produces an electrical output that is dynamically impedance-matched with the lamp throughout the entire time span of and the transition sequence between all three operating modes, thereby creating the necessary discharge conditions for optimal lamp operation. For example, the pulsed discharge lamp power supply system produces an ignition mode pulse only when and in the form specifically required for optimal lamp operation; produces a simmer current only when and in the form specifically required for optimal lamp operation; and produces a main discharge current pulse only when and in the temporal-amplitude shape that is specifically required for optimal lamp operation.