Study on discharge characteristics of pulsed power module under the condition of discharge short circuit fault

Abstract Efficiency and safety are key factors that must be emphasized in pulsed power applications. The discharge characteristics of pulsed power supply directly determine the performance of the railgun. This paper conducts a research on short-circuit faults in transmission coaxial cables of pulsed power supply. In order to study the effect of short-circuit fault on the discharge characteristics of pulsed power supply and system efficiency,a pulse-forming network with cable short-circuit failure and dynamic railgun model are established in the paper. The effect of short-circuit fault on peak current is discussed by simulation. The results show that the short-circuit fault currents are all higher than the currents under normal conditions, and the closer the short-circuit location is to the power supply side, the higher the peak value of current is. In some extreme case, the peak fault current exceeds 1.5 times the normal, which requires consideration of short-circuit fault protection measures, such as the addition of a DC circuit breakers.