Abstract
All spark gaps will “break down” or transition from the insulating state to the conducting state, if the voltage across the gap is increased above the gap self breakdown voltage. The self breakdown voltage for a uniform field and a given gap spacing, gas specie and pressure, electrode material, dielectric environment, and ambient radiation environment is commonly described by the Paschen curve as discussed in Chapter 2. However, actual spark gaps do not commonly have uniform fields and must operate for many discharges with a gas dielectric mixture in a manner that is not well defined. Therefore, the uniform field Paschen curves are used to define an initial design and empirical breakdown behavior are obtained to define the actual gap operating range.
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© 1990 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Nunnally, W.C., Donaldson, A.L. (1990). Self Breakdown Gaps. In: Schaefer, G., Kristiansen, M., Guenther, A. (eds) Gas Discharge Closing Switches. Advances in Pulsed Power Technology, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2130-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2130-7_3
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