Investigation of an improved low-impedance meander pulse forming line based on glass ceramics

The meander pulse forming line (PFL) is a kind of prospective solid dielectric device for compact, reliable pulsed power systems. In this paper, the electrode structure of a PFL based on glass ceramics was designed with a Ω-shaped structure, which can improve the voltage strength of the PFL and increase the output pulse width. The electric field distribution and output waveform were obtained numerically. Experimental results illustrate that the improved PFL, with dimensions of 260 × 140 × 7 mm3, when used as a simple PFL could generate a well-shaped quasi-square pulse, with the output pulse duration of 85 ns, which is in agreement with the simulation within 14%. Under the conditions of 30 kV charging voltage, 50 Hz repetition frequency, and 4 Ω matching impedance, the lifetime of the solid dielectric PFL based on glass ceramics could be more than 1 × 106. Experiments show reasonable agreement with numerical analysis.