Application of a pulsed thyratron for switching the Gatchina discharge

At present, significant progress has been made in the generation of spherical plasmoids using the Gatchina discharge, which, according to many scientists, can be analogues of ball lightning. Such plasmoids, generated by a high-voltage discharge above the water surface, have an autonomous phase, the origin of which and the underlying processes are the subject of modern research. It should be noted that in Russia the questions about ball lightning showed interest, including Nobel laureates V. L. Ginzburg and P. L. Kapitsa. Most often, for switching the Gatchina discharge, gas dischargers are used, which are unable to provide an experimental study of the effect of the rate of increase in voltage and current on long-lived spherical plasmoids. In this paper, we solve the problem of switching the Gatchina discharge using another device, a hydrogen-filled pulsed thyratron. The purpose of this work is to create a high-voltage switch of the storage capacitance of the Gatchina discharge by a pulsed thyratron, as well as to test the designed and manufactured installation. The main part of the study describes a high-voltage installation containing a plasmoid generator, a storage capacitance switching unit with a pulsed thyratron, and a thyratron ignition pulse generation unit using a pulsed transformer. The developed high-voltage capacitive energy storage is made according to the scheme of parallel connection of capacitors. Energy is stored in a capacitor bank, which is charged to a predetermined high voltage using a charger and discharged to the load through a switching system consisting of a switch and its control device. The paper presents the electrical circuits of a high-voltage charger, a switching unit for a storage capacity by a pulsed thyratron, and a unit for generating a thyratron start-up voltage pulse. Also shown are drawings of individual parts of the manufactured installation. As the results of the study, the first test results of the developed installation are presented. The voltage and current pulses on the thyratron and on the capacitor are estimated. Qualitatively new results are obtained for the generation of spherical plasmoids using a thyratron, namely, the transition of a plasmoid from a spherical shape to a toroidal one in one discharge. In conclusion, based on the results of the research, some practical advice is given for using the thyratron as a switch.

spherical plasmoid, Gatchina discharge, pulsed thyratron, capacitor, transformer, thyristor, voltage and current oscillograms

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