Failure times prediction of field-distortion gas switch based on electrode surface roughness

School of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University - 710049, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

^a liuxuand@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Received: 12 July 2011
Accepted: 26 September 2011

Abstract

Prediction of switch failure times has a great influence on determining the repair cycle of gas switch and pulse power system, preventing accidents, and reducing cost. In this paper, electrode surface roughness (ESR) is proposed to analyze switch performance and predict switch failure times. According to the one-dimensional equation of heat conduction and the thermal equilibrium equation near the electrode surface, the etch pit depth can be calculated with different discharge conditions. And then, the electrode surface roughness has been obtained by calculating the deepest etch pits depth and the burr peak height in the electrode erosion region for the same discharge condition. The switch failure times can be predicted by the trend of the ESR according to discharge times. Experimental results indicate that the calculation model of switch failure times can be used to predict the switch failure times effectively.