JPH05327085A - Pulse discharge device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A pulse circuit is completely made into a semiconductor, and a long-life, stable and highly reliable pulse discharge device is obtained. A pulse discharge device comprising a cylindrical discharge tube 1, a pair of cylindrical electrodes 2 for forming a pulse discharge in the discharge tube 1 and a flange 9 holding the electrode 2 is provided. The first winding 10 and the second winding 11 are arranged, both ends of the first winding 10 are connected to the flanges 9, and the second winding 11 is provided with a series circuit of the semiconductor switch 12 and the capacitor 7. Connect and configure.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the structure of a pulse discharge device used for metal vapor lasers such as copper vapor lasers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 8 shows a document (Copper Vapor laser).
1) shows a configuration of a conventional copper vapor laser device described in "Come of Age"), 1 is a cylindrical discharge tube, 2 is electrodes arranged at both ends of the discharge tube, 3 is a breaker for maintaining insulation, and 4 is a breaker.
Is an outer cylinder, 5 is a window for taking out laser light, 6 is a thyratron as an opening / closing switch, 7 is a capacitor for charging and discharging, and 8 is copper arranged in the discharge tube 1.

In FIG. 8, the high voltage energy of the capacitor 7 in which a high voltage is stored is applied to the electrode 2 by bringing the thyratron 6 into conduction by an external signal. Electrode 2
The voltage applied to generates discharge in the discharge tube 1. When the above operation is repeated, the temperature inside the discharge tube 1 rises, the copper 8 evaporates, and the discharge tube 1 is filled with copper vapor. As a result, the electric discharge generated in the discharge tube 1 excites the copper atoms, causes laser oscillation, and is output to the outside through the window 5. Since the lifetime of the lower laser level of the copper vapor laser as described above is extremely slow compared to the upper laser level,
In order to improve the laser efficiency, it is necessary to excite copper atoms by discharge in a short time on the order of nanosecond.
Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the inductance of not only the pulse circuit including the charging resistor and the laser discharge tube but also the discharge circuit including the high voltage power supply, the charging reactor, and the discharging capacitor. Furthermore, the thyratron 6 is required to have a switching speed on the order of nanosecond.

[0004]

Since the conventional copper vapor laser device is constructed as described above, the thyratron 6 is used.
Since it is a vacuum tube switch, it has problems such as short life and unstable quality. In addition, the element capable of switching high voltage and large current on the order of nanoseconds was not the current semiconductor, but had to rely on the thyratron.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and eliminates the thyratron and completely integrates the pulse circuit into a semiconductor.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pulse discharge device in which a first winding and a second winding are arranged on the outer periphery of a cylindrical discharge tube, and both ends of the first winding are arranged. Are respectively connected to the above flanges, and a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a capacitor is connected to the second winding.

In the pulse discharge device according to the second invention, the first winding and the second winding are arranged on the outer periphery of the cylindrical discharge tube,
A cylindrical magnetic body is arranged between the first and second windings and the discharge tube, both ends of the first winding are connected to the flanges, respectively, and a semiconductor switch and a capacitor are provided in the second winding. And a series circuit with is connected.

[0008]

In the pulse discharge device according to the first aspect of the invention, the first and second windings provided outside the cylindrical discharge tube constitute a step-up transformer, and the second winding, the semiconductor switch and the capacitor are constituted. Since the loop inductance can be made extremely small, high voltage, large current and nanosecond-order pulses can be generated across the first pulse transformer, and since the switch is made of semiconductor, it has a long service life.
A stable device can be obtained.

The pulse discharge device according to the second invention comprises:
Since the magnetic substance is arranged inside the first winding and the second winding, the coupling of the magnetic flux between the first and second windings is improved in addition to the first action, and thus it is stored in the capacitor. The voltage can be reduced.

[0010]

【Example】

Example 1. Next, examples of the present invention will be described. Figure 1
Is a pulse discharge device according to an embodiment of the first invention, and 9
Is a flange, 10 is the first winding, 11 is the second winding, 1
2 is a semiconductor switch. A pulse voltage is applied to the second winding 11 by simultaneously conducting the semiconductor switches 12 with the low voltage energy stored in the capacitor 7.
Since the first winding wire 10 is wound inside the second winding wire 11, the first winding wire 10 and the second winding wire 11 form a transformer. A voltage proportional to the turn ratio between the first winding 10 and the second winding 11 is generated at both ends of the first winding 10. As shown in the figure, the first winding 10 and the second winding 11 are wound close to each other, so that the first winding 10 and the second winding 11 are wound.
The coupling of the magnetic flux with is improved, and a higher voltage is generated in the first winding 10. Both ends of the first winding 10 are flanges 9
Since a high voltage pulse is applied to the pair of electrodes 2, pulse discharge occurs in the discharge tube 1. As a result, the temperature inside the discharge tube 1 rises, copper vapor is generated from the copper 8, and copper atoms are excited by the discharge to obtain laser oscillation.

The pulse discharge device of FIG. 1 is electrically represented by an equivalent circuit as shown in FIG. Pulse transformer 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes an air-core transformer composed of the first winding wire 10 and the second winding wire 11, and the discharge load 15 is the discharge generated in the discharge tube 1. The semiconductor switch 12 is, for example, one in which FETs (of course, SITs, bipolar transistors, IGBTs, etc.) are connected in parallel as shown in FIG. 3, and the maximum voltage is only about 1000 V withstand voltage. I don't have it. Since the current flowing through the second winding 11 is larger than the current flowing through the first winding 10 by the step-up ratio of the pulse transformer 14, a considerably large current flows through the second winding 11. Therefore, in FIG. 1, many FETs 18 are connected in parallel. In this way, the pulse transformer 14
Since the voltage is boosted by, the high voltage can be applied to the discharge load 15 even if the voltage stored in the capacitor 7 is small. The inductance 13-a (L1) and the inductance 13-b (L2) are inductances due to the non-coupling magnetic fluxes of the first winding 10 and the second winding 11, and these are used to improve the efficiency of the laser. Must be small.

By constructing the pulse transformer around the discharge tube as shown in FIG. 1, there are the following advantages. (A) First of all, the first winding 1 in the circuit formed by the second winding 11, the capacitor 7, and the semiconductor switch 12.
The non-coupling magnetic flux that does not link with 0 can be reduced, that is, the inductance 13-a (L1) can be reduced. The component not interlinking with the first winding 10 is the shaded portion in FIG. 1, and if the thickness t of the parallel plate portion of the second winding 11 is reduced, the non-coupling magnetic flux decreases. Further, since the inductance generated by the non-coupling magnetic flux becomes smaller as the length l in FIG. 1 becomes longer, the distance l is set to the full length of the discharge tube 1 and the thickness t is made smaller, whereby the non-coupling magnetic flux becomes The inductance can be made extremely small. If the inductance due to the non-coupling magnetic flux can be reduced, the steepness of the voltage generated in the first winding 10 is increased, and the coupling between the first winding 10 and the second winding 11 is improved, so that the capacitor 7 The voltage can be reduced. Furthermore, since the second winding wire 11 is arranged around the discharge tube 1, the device does not become large even if the length l of the second winding wire 11 is increased. (B) Next, since the first winding 10 is wound coaxially with the discharge tube 1, a discharge circuit composed of the first winding 10, the discharge tube 1, the electrode 2, and the flange 9 is formed. Inductance can be reduced, that is, inductance 13-b
(L2) can be reduced. For example, when the first winding 10 is not wound around the discharge tube 1, the generation of the magnetic flux in the shaded portion formed from both ends of the first winding 10 to the discharge tube as shown in FIG. Inevitably, therefore, the inductance of the discharge circuit composed of the first winding 10, the flange 9, the discharge tube 1 and the electrode 2 becomes large. Therefore, the pulse voltage has no steepness and the laser efficiency cannot be improved.
However, as in the present invention, the first winding 1 is formed around the discharge tube 1.
By winding 0, the magnetic flux in the shaded area in FIG. 1 is substantially eliminated, the inductance of the discharge circuit can be reduced, the steepness of the pulse voltage is increased, and the laser efficiency is improved. By doing so, it is possible to generate a high-voltage, large-current, and steep pulse discharge in the discharge tube 1 from a low voltage of about 1000 V using all semiconductors.

Embodiment 2. FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the first winding 10 is arranged in a strip shape around the discharge tube 1. By doing so, the first winding 10 and the discharge tube 1 are almost completely arranged by superimposing two coaxial cylinders, and the inductance becomes extremely small. Further, the magnetic flux linkage with the second winding 11 is further improved. Also,
A highly reflective material is attached to the inner surface of the first winding 10 in FIG. 4 by vapor deposition or the like, and the temperature of the discharge tube 1 is extremely likely to rise. Therefore, since a high temperature can be obtained in the discharge tube 1 with a low discharge input power, the electric input power required for oscillation can be reduced, and a large improvement in laser efficiency can be expected.

Example 3. Next, the second invention will be described. In the second invention, in addition to the first invention, as shown in FIG. 5, a cylindrical magnetic body 16 is inserted between the first winding 10 and the second winding 11 and the discharge tube 1. ing. By doing so, the magnetic resistance inside the first winding 10 and the second winding 11 is greatly reduced, and the generated magnetic flux almost passes through the cylindrical magnetic body 16. As a result, the interlinkage between the first winding wire 10 and the second winding wire 11 becomes extremely good, and the voltage can be efficiently boosted. The electrical equivalent circuit of the device of FIG. 5 is as shown in FIG.

Example 4. Further, FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the second invention, further comprising a first winding 10 and a second winding 11
In order to improve the interlinkage with Since the magnetic circuit composed of the cylindrical magnetic body 16 and the coupling magnetic body 17 is closed, the interlinkage is further improved.

[0016]

As described above, in the pulse discharge device according to the first invention, the first winding and the second winding are arranged on the outer periphery of the discharge tube, and both ends of the first winding are respectively arranged. Since it is connected to the flange and a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a capacitor is connected to the second winding, laser oscillation is possible using all semiconductors, so a pulse with long life, high stability and high reliability A discharge device can be provided.

Further, in the pulse discharge device according to the second invention, in addition to the first invention, since a cylindrical magnetic body is inserted between the first winding and the second winding and the discharge tube, In addition to the effect of the first invention, efficient boosting is performed, and the efficiency of the laser can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a pulse discharge device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing an equivalent circuit of the pulse discharge device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a semiconductor switch according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of a pulse discharge device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of a pulse discharge device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing an equivalent circuit of a pulse discharge device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of a pulse discharge device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional pulse discharge device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Discharge Tube 2 Electrode 7 Capacitor 9 Flange 10 First Winding 11 Second Winding 12 Semiconductor Switch 16 Magnetic Material

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] July 16, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0012

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

By constructing the pulse transformer around the discharge tube as shown in FIG. 1, there are the following advantages. (A) First of all, the first winding 1 in the circuit formed by the second winding 11, the capacitor 7, and the semiconductor switch 12.
The non-coupling magnetic flux that does not link with 0 can be reduced, that is, the inductance 13-a (L1) can be reduced. The component not interlinking with the first winding 10 is the shaded portion in FIG. 1, and if the thickness t of the parallel plate portion of the second winding 11 is reduced, the non-coupling magnetic flux decreases. Further, since the inductance generated by the non-coupling magnetic flux becomes smaller as the length l in FIG. 1 becomes longer, the distance l is set to the full length of the discharge tube 1 and the thickness t is made smaller, whereby the non-coupling magnetic flux becomes The inductance can be made extremely small. If the inductance due to the non-coupling magnetic flux can be reduced, the steepness of the voltage generated in the first winding 10 is increased, and the coupling between the first winding 10 and the second winding 11 is improved, so that the capacitor 7 The voltage can be reduced. Furthermore, since the second winding wire 11 is arranged around the discharge tube 1, the device does not become large even if the length l of the second winding wire 11 is increased. (B) Next, since the first winding 10 is wound coaxially with the discharge tube 1, a discharge circuit composed of the first winding 10, the discharge tube 1, the electrode 2, and the flange 9 is formed. Inductance can be reduced, that is, inductance 13-b
(L2) can be reduced. For example, when the first winding 10 is not wound around the discharge tube 1, the discharge from the first winding is performed.
A transmission line up to the tube is required, and the inductance of the transmission line
This increases the inductance of the discharge circuit. That
Therefore, the steepness of the pulse voltage is eliminated and the laser efficiency is improved.
Absent. However, by winding the first winding 10 around the discharge tube 1 as in the present invention, a transmission line is unnecessary, the inductance of the discharge circuit can be reduced, the steepness of the pulse voltage is increased, and the laser efficiency is increased. improves. By doing this, 10
From a voltage as low as about 00 V, it becomes possible to generate a high-current, large-current, and steep pulse discharge in the discharge tube 1 using all semiconductors.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pulse discharge device comprising a cylindrical discharge tube, a pair of cylindrical electrodes for forming a pulse discharge in the discharge tube, and a flange for holding the electrode, wherein a first electrode is provided on the outer periphery of the discharge tube. A winding and a second winding are arranged, both ends of the first winding are respectively connected to the flanges, and a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a capacitor is connected to the second winding. And pulse discharge device. 2. A pulse discharge device comprising a cylindrical discharge tube, a pair of cylindrical electrodes for forming a pulse discharge in the discharge tube, and a flange holding the electrode, wherein a first electrode is provided on the outer circumference of the discharge tube. A winding and a second winding are arranged, a cylindrical magnetic body is arranged between the first and second windings and the discharge tube, and both ends of the first winding are respectively connected to the flange. A pulse discharge device, characterized in that a series circuit of a semiconductor switch and a capacitor is connected to the second winding.