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1.3 Generation of Impulse Voltages

DEFINITIONS

An impulse voltage is a unidirectional voltage which, rises rapidly
to a maximum value and falls more or less rapidly to zero.

The maximum value is called the peak value of the impulse.

A full impulse voltage is characterized by its peak value and its two
time intervals, the wave front and wave tail time intervals.

The wave front time is specified as 1.25 times (t2 – t1), where t2
is the time for the wave to reach to its 90% of the peak value and
t1 is the time to reach 10% of the peak value.

Wave tail time is measured between the nominal starting point t0
and the point on the wave tail where the voltage is 50% of the
peak value i.e. wave tail time is expressed as (t3 – t0).

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Fig. 6.9 Impulse Wave

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The standardized lightning impulse waves are represented by the
general equation

V = V0 [exp(−αt ) − exp(− βt )

The tolerances allowed in the front and tail durations are ±30%
and ±20% respectively

The tolerance allowed in the peak value is ±3%

The standard lightning impulse wave has a front duration of 1.2 µs
and a wave tail duration of 50 µs, and is described as a 1.2/50 µs
wave.

The definition of the front and tail is as described in the IEC
60060 standard

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IMPULSE GENERATOR CIRCUITS

Two simplified but more practical forms of impulse
generator circuits are shown in Fig. 6.10 (a) and (b).

Fig. 6.10 Simplified equivalent circuit of an impulse generator

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The two circuits are widely used and differ only in the
position of the wave tail control resistance R2.

When R2 is on the load side of R1 (Fig. a) the two resistances
form a potential divider which reduces the output voltage

But when R2 is on the generator side of R1 (Fig. b) this
particular loss of output voltage is absent.

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The impulse capacitor C1 is charged through a charging
resistance to a d.c. voltage Vo

And then discharged by flashing over the switching gap with a
pulse of suitable value.

The desired impulse voltage appears across the load
capacitance C2.

The value of the circuit elements determines the shape of the
output impulse voltage.

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ANALYSIS OF CIRCUIT ‘a’

The output voltage

Where;

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The front wave time and the tail wave time can be
determined approximately

The time for wave front

C1C2
t1 = t f = 3.0 R1
C1 + C2

The time for wave tail
t 2 = 0.7( R1 + R2 )(C1 + C2 )

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ANALYSIS OF CIRCUIT ‘b’?

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Multistage Impulse Generators

The best way for generating voltage impulses of very high
amplitudes using a DC source of a moderate output

A bank of capacitors are charged in parallel and then
discharged in series, as originally proposed by Marx in 1923

A typical modification of a Marx circuit is as shown

The gap spacing is chosen such that the breakdown voltage of
the gaps F is slightly higher than the charging voltage V

All capacitors are charged to the voltage V

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Fig. 6.11 Multistage Impulse Generators Circuit

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When the impulse generator is to be discharged, the gaps F
are made to spark over simultaneously by some external
means

Thus all capacitors are connected in series and discharge
through the wave-shaping resistors Rd‘ and Re‘ into the test
object

Multistage impulse generators are usually specified by their
total output voltage, the number of stages(n), and the stored
energy

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Single Stage Equivalent Circuit as shown;

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1.4 Generation of Impulse Currents

Introduction

Generation of impulse currents of the order of several
hundreds of kilo amperes finds applications in testing
lightning arresters.

The waveshapes in common use are the double exponential

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The impulse waveshape is defined according to IEC
recommendation.

T1is the front duration and T2is the time to half peak.

According to IEC, the standard waves are 4/10 and 8/20 µs

To produce the standard waveform, a typical circuit as shown
is normally used

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Voltage V when the current im through in the circuit

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Thank You…

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Q&A

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