JPH05258837A - Life recognizing method for triggered spark gap - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the method for precisely recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap when a high-voltage power source is triggered at the voltage higher than the specified voltage serving as a factor for life prediction and when the high-voltage power source is triggered at the voltage lower than the specified voltage serving as a factor for life prediction. CONSTITUTION:An output voltage detecting circuit 7 detects the output voltage of a high-voltage power source 1. A logical circuit 8 performs the OR operation of the output signal of a triggered spark gap trigger circuit 6 and the output signal of the output voltage detecting circuit 7. An augmenting circuit 9 receives the output signal of the logical circuit 8, weighs it in response to the output signal of the output voltage detecting circuit 7, and outputs it to a trigger number counter 10. The count value of the trigger number counter 10 precisely indicates the life of a triggered spark gap 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap, and more particularly to a method of recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap in a crowbar circuit using the triggered spark gap.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional method of recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap, there is a method shown in the block diagram of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the high voltage power supply 1, the capacitor 2, the triggered spark gap 3 and the load 4 are connected in parallel. The load current detection circuit 5 is a circuit that detects that a current exceeding a specified value has flowed in the load 4 due to some abnormality. The triggered spark gap trigger circuit 6 inputs the output signal of the load current detection circuit 5 and immediately triggers the triggered spark gap 3 when a current more than a specified value flows in the load 4 to trigger the capacitor 2
Energy of the
The F signal is output, and the trigger counter 10 is incremented by 1.

The life of the triggered spark gap is generally considered as follows. The capacitor 2 is charged with energy from the high voltage power supply 1, and the charged energy is discharged by the triggered spark gap 3. Therefore, triggered spark gap 3
Has a fixed charge amount Q (Coulomb). For example, when the output voltage of the high-voltage power supply 1 is E (V) and the electrostatic capacity of the capacitor 2 is C (F), the amount of charge of q (Coulomb / SHOT) is damaged by one trigger: q = CE. Accumulated. Therefore, the life LIFE of the triggered spark gap 3 is LIFE = Q / q (SHOT)
Becomes

As described above, in the conventional method for recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap, the number of triggers of the triggered spark gap 3 is counted by the trigger number counter 10, and the triggered spark gap 3 is counted.
Be aware of the life of.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method of recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap, q = CE rather than q (Coulomb) in one trigger.
/ SHOT), the amount of charge is accumulated. Therefore, although the amount of damage is different depending on the output voltage, one trigger is counted as the same amount of accumulated damage. Therefore, when used at an output voltage higher than the specified voltage, which is a factor for life prediction, the triggered spark gap actually exceeds the life even though the life has not reached the number of triggers yet. However, there is a problem in that the gap may cause serious damage to the load without being triggered. On the contrary, when the output voltage is lower than the specified voltage, which is an element of life prediction, it is recognized that the life has been reached in terms of the number of triggers, although the life has not been reached. Then, there is a problem in that the expensive triggered spark gap may be discarded without being effectively used until its life.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when the high-voltage power supply is triggered by a voltage higher than a specified voltage, which is an element of life prediction, the high-voltage power supply is an element of life prediction. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method capable of accurately recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap even when triggered by a voltage lower than a specified voltage.

[0007]

A method for recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap according to the present invention is a circuit in which a high voltage power supply, a capacitor, a triggered spark gap and a load are connected in parallel, and a predetermined load in the load. In the method of recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap, which has a load current detection circuit for detecting that a current equal to or more than a value flows,
A triggered spark gap trigger circuit that triggers the triggered spark gap immediately after inputting the output signal of the load current detection circuit to further stop the high-voltage power supply, and an output voltage detection circuit that detects the output voltage of the high-voltage power supply, A logic circuit that takes the logical sum of the output signal of this output voltage detection circuit and the output signal of the triggered spark gap trigger circuit, and the output signal of this logic circuit It is characterized by having an increasing circuit for weighting and a trigger number counter for counting the output signal of the increasing circuit.

[0008]

In the method of recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap according to the present invention, the output voltage detection circuit detects the output voltage of the high voltage power supply, and the logic circuit outputs the output signal of the output voltage detection circuit and the triggered spark gap trigger circuit. The logical sum of the output signal and the output signal of the logic circuit is input to the increasing circuit, which is weighted according to the output signal of the output voltage detecting circuit and is output to the trigger number counter. According to the method for recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap according to the present invention, when the high-voltage power supply is triggered at a voltage higher than the specified voltage that is the element of life prediction, and when the high-voltage power supply is more than the specified voltage that is the element of life prediction, Even when the trigger is performed with a low voltage, the count value of the trigger number counter accurately represents the life of the triggered spark gap.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a method of recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same components as those in the block diagram of the conventional method of recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap shown in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. In the block diagram showing the method of recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the components different from the block diagram of the method of recognizing the life of the conventional triggered spark gap shown in FIG. The detection circuit 7, the logic circuit 8 and the increment circuit 9 are provided in the preceding stage of the trigger number counter 10. The output voltage detection circuit 7 is a circuit that detects the output voltage of the high-voltage power supply 1. Logic circuit 8
Is a circuit that takes the logical sum of the output signal of the triggered spark gap trigger circuit 6 and the output signal of the output voltage detection circuit 7. The increment circuit 9 is a circuit that receives the output signal of the logic circuit 8 and changes the increment rate with respect to the trigger number counter 10 to increment it.

Next, the operation of the method for recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. When a high voltage is applied to the load 4 from the high-voltage power supply 1 and some abnormality occurs in the load 4 and a load current more than a specified value flows, the load current detection circuit 5 connected to the load 4 causes the load 4 to detect the load. Abnormal current is detected. Then, the output signal of the load current detection circuit 5 is input to the triggered spark gap trigger circuit 6. The triggered spark gap trigger circuit 6 inputs the output signal of the load current detection circuit 5 and immediately triggers the triggered spark gap 3 to release the energy of the capacitor 2 and further output an OFF signal to the high voltage power supply 1. To do. The logic circuit 8 takes the logical sum of the output signal of the triggered spark gap trigger circuit 6 and the output signal of the output voltage detection circuit 7, and outputs the result to the increasing circuit 9. The increasing circuit 9 changes the output signal of the logic circuit 8 according to the output signal of the output voltage detecting circuit 7 and outputs the signal. The trigger number counter 10 counts the output signal of the increasing circuit 9 to output and display the life of the triggered spark gap 3.

For example, in the conventional method of recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap shown in FIG. 2, the capacitance C of the capacitor 2 is 1 μF, the accumulated charge amount Q of the triggered spark gap 3 is 20 Coulomb, and the high voltage power source is used. When the output voltage of 1 is E = 6 (KV), q = C by one trigger
The damage of the charge amount of 6 (m Coulomb / SHOT) is accumulated from E, and the life L of the triggered spark gap 3 is increased.
IFE is LIFE = Q / q = 3.3 × 10 ^ 6 (SH
OT). Here, 10 ^ 6 represents 10 to the sixth power. However, the output voltage of the high-voltage power supply 1 is E = 2 (K
In the case of V), it is 2 (m
(Coulomb / SHOT) charge amount damage is accumulated, and the life LIFE of the triggered spark gap 3 is
LIFE = Q / q = 9.9 × 10 ^ 6 (SHOT). Thus, the difference in the output voltage of the high-voltage power supply 1 is three times as large as the damage caused by one trigger,
In the conventional method of recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap, the same trigger is counted no matter how different the damage is.

In the method for recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap according to this embodiment, the trigger voltage is provided by providing the output voltage detection circuit 7 for detecting the output voltage of the high voltage power supply 1, the logic circuit 8 and the increase circuit 9. The logical sum of the output signal of the spark gap trigger circuit 6 and the output signal of the output voltage detection circuit 7 is calculated, and the result is weighted according to the output signal of the output voltage detection circuit 7 and output to the trigger number counter 10. The weighting is performed, for example, when the output voltage of the high voltage power supply 1 is 6
By setting the value 3 times for KV and the value 1 time for 2 KV, the count value of the trigger number counter 10 accurately represents the life of the triggered spark gap 3.

Therefore, by using the method of recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap according to the present embodiment, even when the high voltage power supply 1 is used at an output voltage higher than the specified voltage which is an element of life prediction, the life has passed. It is possible to extremely reduce the situation where the triggered spark gap trigger circuit 6 outputs the trigger signal while the gap is continuously used and the triggered spark gap 3 does not trigger and the load 4 is seriously damaged. On the contrary, even when the high-voltage power supply 1 is used with an output voltage lower than the specified voltage which is a factor of life prediction, the count value of the trigger number counter 10 accurately represents the life of the triggered spark gap 3 and is expensive. It is possible to effectively utilize such a triggered spark gap over its life.

[0015]

As described above, according to the method for recognizing the life of the triggered spark gap according to the present invention, the output voltage of the high voltage power source is detected and this output voltage and the output signal of the triggered spark gap trigger circuit are detected. The logical sum is taken and this result is weighted according to the output voltage of the high-voltage power supply and output to the trigger number counter, so when the high-voltage power supply is triggered at a voltage higher than the specified voltage that is a factor of life prediction, Even when the power supply is triggered with a voltage lower than the specified voltage, which is a factor for predicting the life, the life of the triggered spark gap can be accurately and easily recognized by the count value of the trigger count counter. The possibility of damaging the load is almost eliminated and the expensive triggered spark gap is effectively utilized for its life. Can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method of recognizing a life of a triggered spark gap according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional method of recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1; High voltage power supply 2; Capacitor 3; Triggered spark gap 4; Load 5; Load current detection circuit 6; Triggered spark gap trigger circuit 7; Output voltage detection circuit 8: Logic circuit 9; Increasing circuit 10; Trigger counter

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A circuit having a high-voltage power supply, a capacitor, a triggered spark gap, and a load connected in parallel, and a load current detection circuit for detecting that a current of a predetermined value or more flows in the load. In the method for recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap, a triggered spark gap trigger circuit for triggering the triggered spark gap and immediately stopping the high voltage power supply when an output signal of the load current detection circuit is input, and an output of the high voltage power supply. An output voltage detection circuit that detects a voltage, a logic circuit that takes the logical sum of the output signal of this output voltage detection circuit and the output signal of the triggered spark gap trigger circuit, and the output signal of this logic circuit An increasing circuit that weights according to the output signal of the output voltage detection circuit, and the output signal of this increasing circuit is counted. A method of recognizing the life of a triggered spark gap, comprising: