THE DESIGN OF A COMPACT PULSE TRANSFORMER

J. ZHANGt, J. DICKENS, M. GIESSELMANN, J. KIM, E. JSRISTIANSEN

J. MANKOWSKI, D. GARCIA, M. KRISTIANSEN
Pulsed Power Laboratory, Departments of Electrical Engineering and Physics
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, TX 79401-3102, USA
Permanent address: Applied Physics Department, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha. 4 10073,
Hunan, China

Abstract
To improve the pulse shape and to obtain ps order pulse
duration on a diode load in an inductive energy storage
system, an oil-submerged compact pulse transformer with
diameter of 20 cm and length of 7 0 cm has been designed
and tested. From theoretical calculations, the parameters
with primary inductance Lp=3.4 pH, secondary
inductance'L,=90 pH, and coupling coefficient K=0.772
are obtained. To prevent breakdown, a conic secondary
design is adopted. Under the condition of 500 kV
operation voltage, the maximum electric field in the
transformer is 205 kV/cm (in oil). The axial voltage
distribution on the secondary is linear. Experiments have
been done to test the insulation, the mechanical force and
the coupling coefficient. The test results are consistent
with the design parameters.

I. THE DESIGN'OFTHE TRANSFORMER

A. Design Consideration
On account of our energy source with a capacitor of 17
@ and a maximum voltage of 45 kV, and of our load
with more than ten R impedance requiring more than ten
kA current, 200 kV or so voltage, and -pS pulse duration,
we choose the primary inductance as 2-4 pH, the
secondary inductance as 70-90 pH, and the turn ratio
around 5 .
Since our experimental device for pulse conditioning

basically uses a chamber with a diameter of 20 cm, our

transformer diameter is chosen not to exceed 20 cm.
Under such limitations of the transformer, we need a high
coupling coefficient, the capability of withstanding 500
kV voltage for more than 100 ns in the secondary, and the
mechanical force produced by the 130 kA primary current
for more than 10 p.
Based on the above considerations, a transformer with the
structure shown in Figure 1 has been designed.

B. Calculation of the Inductance and Coupling

Coescient
By use of the inductance calculation formulas from Ref.
[ l ] and Ref. [2], the results obtained on the basis of the
given geometrical parameters of the transformer are
shown in Table 1 .

C. Calculation Of Mechanical
Strength

To estimate the possible damage due to the mechanical

force resulting from the intense pulse current, we
calculated the strain produced by the forces between the
turns of the primary, between the turns of the secondary,
Here is presented the calculation of the strain resulting
from the repulsive force between the primary and the
secondary, which is the most severe one.

h-.-YImw,

Figure I . :TransformerStructure.

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99

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Table I . Transformer Geometric Parameters, Inductance and Coupling Coefficient and between the primary and the
secondary.
Primary Parameters
Secondary Parameters
Mutual Parametei
9 cm
I RsL-Large Radius of I 8 cm
I M---Mutual
R,-Radius of
13.99 pH
Primary Coil
Secondary Coil
Inductance
Rss-Small Radius of
6 cm
Secondary Coil
Lenp---Lengthof
50 cm
Lensl---the Cylindrical
I I . 16 cm
0.772
Primary Coil
Section Length of

I
I

---Coupling
Coefficient
Np---the Turn
Number of Primary
Coil
L,---the Inductance
of Primary

I
3.4 pH

Secondary Coil
I

I 90.52 pH

I Ls---the Inductance of

I Secondary

N=(-)LS

0.5

---

4.99

L..
Turn Ratio

According to Ref.[3], for two parallel coils, the force per

unit length on coil 1 from coil 2 is

where, I,, I2 are the currents in coil 1 and coil 2,

respectively; I is the distance between coil 1 and coil 2;
and dp is the line element on the coil 1. In our case, all the
turns on primary and secondary are approximately
parallel. Then, the repulsive force on the primary is

Two polyethylene tubes with a thickness 0.9 cm and 1.5

cm are put outside the primary coil to provide the
mechanical support, and the axial cross section of the two
tubes withstands most of the mechanical force.
Taking the force with 10 ps duration and the material
Young's modulus of polyethylene tubes into account, we
get the strain, 0.01245%. According to Ref. [4], the yield
point of steel is approximately a strain, 0.1%. Usually,
polyethylene is more flexible than metal.
Therefore,
such a design is safe for mechanical force.

D.

Calculation of Breakdown Electrical

Strength and Voltage Distribution on the
Secondary.

Since the secondary and primary of the transformer are

coaxial and since the voltage on the primary is much
lower than that on the secondary, we can take the coaxial
transmission line approximation and assume the primary
as ground. When we put the voltage U on the secondary,
the maximum electrical field appearing at the high voltage
end is

where, dll, d12 are the integrating element along the axes
of the primary and the secondary, and d o is the
integrating element along the angular direction of the
primary, and Rp is the radius of the primary coil,
respectively.
By designating the average radial distance between
primary and secondary as

(3)
&aF

where RSL.and Rss are the large radius and small radius
of the secondary coil shown in Table 1. the interaction
distance is

(4)
where 11, 12 are the integrating element axial position of
the primary and the secondary, respectively.
Taking a sinusoidal current waveform into account, when
the primary current I ,=I35 kA. the secondary current
Is=20 kA, we get the mechanical repulsive force on the
primary

Rss ln(-+
Rss

'

(6)

Setting U=500 kV, Rss=6 cm, and R,=9 cm, we get the
practical maximum electrical field in the transformer:
E,,,=205 kV/cm
According to the Martin Formula Is' of transformer oil
breakdown, we have
Eh=0.48(MV/cm) t-1'3A0.075
(7)
where, t (p)is the time that the pulse is above 63% of
peak voltage and A (cm2) is stressed area. In our case,

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t=O.lps and A=185.354cm2. then we get Eb=699

kV/cm. From this point of view, the breakdown
electrical field is much bigger than the practical
electrical field in the transformer.

With an HP 4263B LCR meter at 100 kHz frequency,

we measured the primary inductance, the secondary
inductance and the coupling coefficient. The results are
Lp=3.46pH, Ls=86 pH,and K=0.755.

In many cases, the voltage distribution on the

transformer secondary is exponential. The equivalent
circuit for the secondary voltage distribution is shown
in Figure 2. In the figure, L,, and C,, represent the
inductance and capacitance between two turns, and C,,
is the capacitance between one turn of the secondary
and the primary or ground; in our case, C,i-1.5 pF,
C,,-6.2 pF, L,,-1.8 pH. When the upper frequency
from th.e fuse interruption is w=6.28.107 radiads, the
impedance from stray capacitance gre.much larger than'
that from the inductance between turns. Consequently,
the voltage distribution on the secondary is only
dependent on inductance between turns instead of stay
capacitance. In other words, the distribution is linear.

B. Measurement of the Voltage Distribution

on the Secondary

11.

With a Tektronix FG504 40 MHz Function Generator,

we put a 100 kHz sinusoidal signal on the secondary
assembled together with the primary. Then, we used a
Tekuonix TD360 two-channel, digital, real-time
oscilloscope to monitor the voltage difference from
each turn to one end, one by one. Since we cannot put
the probe too far inside, we measured 10 turns on the
high voltage end. In Figure 3, Series 2 reflects the
measurement; Series 1 results from the calculation
based on a linear voltage distribution assumption. From
this figure, we can see that the difference is so little that
we can take the practical voltage distribution on the
secondary as being linear.

MEASUREMENT AND TEST

A. Measurement of Inductance and Coupling

CoefJicient

6.12pf

1.5pf

1.8uH
Figure 2. the Equivalent Circuit for Secondary Voltage Distribution
I
30

25
20
15
10
5

10 13 16 19 22 2 5 2.8 31 34 37 40 43 46 49

Figure 3. The Secondary Voltage Distribution, the Series 2 is from measurement, the Series I , from the calculation
based on a linear voltage distribution assumption.
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C.

100 ns and a mechanical force resulting from 110 kA

primary current and 20 kA secondary current within l o p .

Test of the Transformer

After submerging the transformer in transformer oil, we

used a 17 pF capacitor with a charging voltage 20 kV to
test it. The oscilloscope trace of the transformer test is
shown in Fig.4, which is from the measurement using the
Pearson current monitors (models 1423 and 4418). From
this figure, we find that the primary current is 57.6 kA,
the secondary current is 8.2 kA. On the basis of the
measurement, we get the coupling coefficient 0.722.
Compared with that measured with HP 4263B LCR
meter, the coupling coefficient is a little bit small. The
difference possibly results from the loop discharge
resistance relative to intense discharge current. Such a
test shows that the transformer has as good a performance
as expected.

111.

REFERENCE
[ 1J F.W., Grover, Inductance Calculation, Dover
Publications, Inc., N.Y., 1973, p.105.
[2] F.W., Grover, Inductance Calculation, Dover
Publications, Inc., N.Y., 1973, p.122.
[3J R.M.,Whitmer, Electromagnetics, 2"d ed., N. J.:
Prentice-hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, 1962, p. 144.
[4]John Wiley, Applied Mechanics, V01.2, p. 15.
[5] R.J., Adler, Pulse Power Formulary, North Star
Research Corporation, 1991, p.2 1.

SUMMARY

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

On the basis of design considerations, we built a compact

pulse transformer. Calculations, measurements and tests
show that, hopefully, such a transformer with the primary
inductance of 3.4 pH, the secondary inductance of 86 pH,
and the coupling coefficient of 0.75 has the capability to
withstand 500 kV high voltage on the secondary within

This work was solely funded by the Explosive-Driven

Power Generation MURI program funded by the Director
of Defense Research & Engineering (DDRBrE) and
managed by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research
(AFOSR)

Saved: 0 8 JUN 1999 15:41:55

. Figure 4. The Oscilloscope Trace of the Transformer Test

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