The Crossed Field Switch Tube-A New HVDC Circuit Interrupter

A crossed field (Penning) discharge device has been developed which can perform HVDC interruption. The discharge is controlled by a magnetic field, the removal of which causes the plasma to decay in a time ~10μs. The present single tube capability is 100 kV/2000 A with a recovery rate of 2 kV/μs. The tubes are capable of series and parallel operation, opening the door to many HVDC applications requiring forced current interruption at performance levels far in excess of those of a single tube.