Study of the Temperature Effect on Operating Mode of a Thyratron-type Gas-discharge Current Interrupter in a Scheme with Inductive Energy Storage

This paper presents results of experimental studies the effect of changing operating temperature on the operating mode of thyratron-type gas-discharge current switches in a scheme with inductive energy storage. Analysis of the obtained results made it possible to establish that the average settling time in the continuous-frequency mode for such type of switches is 20-25 min. Based on the distributions of the surface temperature on the functional units of the devices over time, it can be seen that the degree of anode, grid and cathode nodes heating increases towards the anode node at Um≥30 kV, at Um≤30 kV heating degree increases towards the grid and cathode nodes, due to changes in the ratio of switching losses and conduction losses. In the new gas- discharge current interrupter, it was possible to reduce the heating of the grid node by an average of 15-20%, while a temperature change by 70°C leads to a 2-fold increase in a critical charge.