Development and Testing of Self-Triggering System for Laboratory Impulse Voltage Generators

Insulation systems must be designed to withstand lightning overvoltages of different waveforms and should pass through evaluation in high-voltage laboratories. In this context, a lightning impulse voltage generator (Marx generator) became extremely important to check the equipment insulation system. The LAT-EFEI High Voltage Laboratory has the expertise to develop and build its own testing equipment for routine and type tests of distribution transformers. In the past decade, a four-stage Marx impulse generator was successfully designed and built to operate with 400 kV and 20 kJ. Nowadays, laboratory personnel are developing a low-cost triggering system capable of achieving a high repetitiveness triggering and this work presents an evaluation of the prototype chopping time and its durability, as though as the stability of the output voltage to evaluate any alterations.