High voltage pulse speed study for high voltage DC-DC power supply based on voltage multipliers

The high voltage (HV) pulse speed is investigated for voltage multiplier based HV power supply. The key factors which influence the HV pulse rise and decay response time for HV power supply such as switching frequency, load resistance, and voltage multiplier capacitance are studied. When the stage number of voltage multiplier is determined, the switching frequency is the key influence factor for the HV pulse rise time. High switching frequency will lead to short HV pulse rise time. From the voltage multiplier HV pulse rise time simulation results, assuming sufficient power supply power rating, the load resistance and filter capacitor have little influence for the HV pulse rise time. The high voltage pulse decay time is proportional to load resistance and multiplier capacitance. Though switching frequency has indirect relation to decay time, multiplier capacitance can be decreased with higher switching frequency. So higher switching frequency can effectively decrease the both high voltage pulse rise and decay time. The experimental results of a 2kV output HV power supply switching at 300 kHz with 2-stage half-wave series voltage multiplier prototype verify the analysis and simulation results. The practical design guidelines for achieving desired HV pulse rise & decay time is provided finally.