1,8 MV multichannel commutation of a low-resistive line

Characteristics of a multichannel ring trigatron in the regime of shortening of two ordinary water Blumlines (FL), connected to it in parallel, total resistance 2.65 Ω, 1.8 MB charging voltage for 1.5 μs, are presented. The volume of gas-discharge chamber constituted 300 l, gas pressure - 10 atm, interelectrode distance - 40 mm. The rate of current gain is achieved with simultaneous operation of 13 channels at the 1.8 MB voltage, commutating current of 680 kA. Electrode erosion during current commutation of > 400 kA in the regime of self-breakdown (in one channel) resulted in the spread of breakdown voltage to 40%. The use of the Ar, SF6 gas mixture in megavolt high-current spark gaps is not perspective. The use of the N2+SF6, N2+SF6+Ar gas mixture improves considerably parallel operation of spark channels