Help with saturable core switches

I am wondering if anyone has had some experience with saturable core switches or magnetic pulse compression systems for high power pulses. I am trying to use the saturable core switch instead of a spark gap for high power pulses. I have been able to find some information on saturable core switches, but I was hoping to find more information on how to fine tune a switch rather than using trial and error.


Chad

Are you thinking of a saturable core reactor with a switchable tertiary winding, maybe? It would help if you told us what you were trying to do.

Yes I am thinking of saturable core reactor. I am going to be using it as a switch. I am going to be using it in conjuction with a IGBT that has a relatively low peak current rating. The purpose of the saturable core switch will be to hold off the discharge from a capacitor while I charge the capacitor with the IGBT. Then when the core saturates hopefully I will have a very rapid rise time of the current in the capacitor discharge and a peak current much higher than my IGBT can handle. I was just hoping there was an easy way to figure out the hold off time for a given number of turns around the core, or any other tricks that people may know about using a saturable reactor in this fashion.

Chad

Still not sure what you are doing or how you intend to use it. I can tell you that the rise time of the current through this or any other inductor is not impressive, they do the opposite of what I think you want, they don't block DC, and the blocking time for an AC waveform is probably going to be a lot shorter than what it takes to charge a cap bank.

On a more helpful note, if you have been blowing IGBT's, try a big MOSFET instead. More expensive, like $20 vs $7, but much better at withstanding punishment.

Perhaps I will look into that then. Thanks for your response.

duffy said:

Are you thinking of a saturable core reactor with a switchable tertiary winding, maybe? It would help if you told us what you were trying to do.

Click to expand...

He's trying to build an overunity telsa device that won't work. Shhh. Secret.

Heh. Could be something with a Tesla coil, it has a spark gap... but I'm going to guess it's a coin-shrinker, and that he doesn't know you can build a triggered spark gap.

Read his previous threads...

Oh.

Dang.

Well, thanks for the warning. If I spent the time explaining how to make a triggered spark gap to him, I certainly would have upset our Illuminati overlords.
ΔΘψΦΛ

Hey no problem here, I just think it's a huge waste of time chasing perpetual motion / energy devices when your stuck with the stark reality of physics, thermodynamics etc...

There's a new Tom Hanks movie coming out with the spooky Illuminati doing their dark deeds.

Well I hope Tom Hanks doesn't accidentally give away the secret of free energy. I shudder to think how close I came to unintentionally putting it in chadj2's hands.