Proposal of a Current Regulative Diode for Power Supply in Sustained Arc Test

A power supply for electrostatic discharge (ESD) test on solar arrays, which adopts a current regulative diode (CRD), was proposed. The CRD can cause the flow of a constant current in spite of the applied voltage and can also reduce the surge current due to a large internal capacitance in the power supplies. The performance of the CRD power supply was measured on short-circuit conditions and was also tested for ESD tests. The CRD circuit showed good performance and could cause the sustained arc as well as the secondary arc. It was confirmed that the CRD power supply was useful for ESD ground tests.