Study on Performance Parameters of the Plasma Source for a Short-Conduction-Time Plasma Opening Switch

Plasma source performance parameters, including plasma ejection density and ve- locity, greatly a®ect the operation of a short-conduction-time plasma opening switch (POS). In this paper, the plasma source used in the POS of Qiangguang I generator is chosen as the study object. At ¯rst the POS working process is analyzed. The result shows that the opening perfor- mance of the POS can be improved by increasing the plasma ejection velocity and decreasing the plasma density. The in°uence of the cable plasma gun structure and number on the plasma ejec- tion parameters is experimentally investigated with two charge collectors. Finally a semi-empirical model is proposed to describe the experimental phenomenon.