Miscellaneous active electrical nonlinear devices – circuits – and – Signal converting – shaping – or generating – Current driver
Patent
1999-02-08
2000-10-31
Lam, Tuan T.
Miscellaneous active electrical nonlinear devices, circuits, and
Signal converting, shaping, or generating
Current driver
108103, H03B 100
Patent
active
061408476
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
1. Domain of invention
This invention relates to a circuit for generating current pulses at high voltage output into a load circuit, and particularly into a capacitive load circuit. It also relates to the process for controlling operation of this circuit.
Applications of the invention occur in techniques for the repeated transfer of pulses that may be as high as several kilovolts and with different durations, succeeding each other at variable and possibly very short intervals.
2. State of the art
In the field of repeated pulse transfers, pulses are generally produced by a current generator that is connected to the dissipation circuit or the load circuit through a switch that may be closed or opened at will. This switch may be a transistor. The single switch may be replaced by several switches in series, if necessary due to the voltage at the terminals of the dissipation circuit. A capacitor is added to store the necessary energy, and is connected between the dissipation circuit and the voltage generator. This capacitor charges when the switch is opened and discharges into the dissipation circuit when the switch is closed. This thus gives a sufficiently fast voltage rise in the dissipation circuit, but only if the previous pulse has terminated for a specific time.
It is frequently necessary to obtain suitable pulses, i.e. with very short rise and fall times, immediately after the end of a previous pulse.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the technique described above.
This is done by including a pulse generation circuit with two high voltage power supply circuits each outputting a current in the same load circuit at two different instants. This circuit can generate pulses with square rising and falling fronts and with a controllable duration.
More precisely, the invention relates to a circuit for generating current pulses at high voltage comprising a first power supply circuit outputting a first current into a load circuit and comprising a first capacitor, a first switch connected onto a terminal on the first capacitor and a first voltage generator also connected to this terminal on the first capacitor. This pulse generation circuit is characterized by the fact that it comprises a second power supply circuit outputting a second current in the load circuit and comprising a second capacitor, a second switch connected to a terminal on the second capacitor and a second voltage generator also connected to this terminal on the second capacitor.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the load circuit comprises two capacitive loads connected to the first power supply circuit and to the second power supply circuit respectively, and forming a double Pockels cell.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the load circuit comprises a capacitive load connected to the first power supply circuit through a first terminal, and to the second power supply circuit through a second terminal, so as to form a single Pockels cell.
The invention also relates to a process for controlling operation of this circuit for generating current pulses at high voltage, consisting of closing the second switch after closing the first switch, the time elapsed between closing the first and second switches being adjustable.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the pulse generation circuit according to the invention;
FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the pulse generation circuit according to the invention;
FIGS. 3A and 3B show the circuit in FIG. 1 in operation when the first switch is closed, and when the second switch is closed, respectively;
FIG. 4 shows the time diagrams for the various circuit voltages in FIG. 1 when this circuit is in operation.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows the pulse generation circuit according to the first embodiment of the invention.
This circuit comprises a first high voltage power supply circuit with capacitive storage, reference 1, that outputs a current I.sub.Von
REFERENCES:
patent: 3910679 (1975-10-01), Rushworth et al.
patent: 4629993 (1986-12-01), Bouvier et al.
patent: 4754226 (1988-06-01), Lusignan et al.
patent: 5072191 (1991-12-01), Nakajima et al.
patent: 5396165 (1995-03-01), Hwang et al.
patent: 5563479 (1996-10-01), Suzuki
patent: 5880690 (1999-03-01), Rothenberg
Commissariat a l''Energie Atomique
Lam Tuan T.
Nguyen Hiep
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