Electrophysical installations for electric-discharge technology of crushing materials

Abstract

Electric-discharge technology is being actively and successfully investigated as an alternative to traditional mechanical methods of crushing of rocks and composite materials. A critical element of the technology is a high-voltage pulse-periodic generator, the parameters of which have quite serious requirements: the rate of rise of a voltage pulse of the order of 1012 V/s at an amplitude of the order of 105 V, the amplitude of the discharge current of the order of 103–104 A, the time constant of the discharge circuit of the order of 10–7–10–6 s and the pulse repetition frequency of the order of 1–10 Hz. The Pulse Power Department of the IHCE SB RAS has been conducting research for many years on the development of generators for electric discharge crushing technology, using several approaches that differ in the electrical circuit. The first approach involves the use of the Marx generator. The second approach is based on pulse charging of a high-voltage capacitive storage from a primary low-voltage capacitive storage through a step-up pulse transformer and subsequent switching of the high-voltage storage using a gas switch to the load. The third approach uses a linear pulse transformer circuit. A series of generators with full automation of control has been created with an output voltage level of up to 400 kV and stored energy of more than 1 kJ, which allow varying in a wide range the amplitude of the output voltage, the energy of the electric discharge, the pulse repetition frequency. Generators are used for crushing materials, although other technological applications are possible.