Characterization of a pulsed mode high voltage power supply for nuclear detectors

This paper discusses the characterization of a pulsed mode high voltage power supply (HVPS) using LT1073 chip. The pulsed modulated signal generated from this chip is amplified using a step-up ferrite core transformer of 1:20 turn ratio and then further multiplied and converted into DC high voltage output using a diode-capacitor arrangement. The circuit is powered by a 9V alkaline battery but regulated at 5V supply. It was found that the output for this setup is 520V, 87 μA with 10% load regulation. This output is suitable to operate a pancake-type GM detector, typically model LND 7317 where the plateau is from 475V to 675V. It was also found that when a β-source with intensity of 120 cps is used, the power consumption of the circuit is 5 V, 10.1 mA only. When the battery was left 'on' for 40 hours continuously, the battery's voltage has dropped to 6.9V, meaning that the 5V supply as well as 520V output is still maintained. It is noted that the minimum output voltage of 475V has reached when the regulated supply has reduced to 4.6V and consequently the 9V battery dropped to 6.5V, and this had happened after approximately 3 days of continuous operation. The power efficiency for this circuitry was found to be 89.5%. This result has far better in performance since the commercial portable equipment of this type has normally specified that not less than 8 hours continuous operation only. On the circuit design for this power supply, it was found that the enveloped frequency is 133 Hz with approximately 50% duty cycle. The modulated frequency during 'on' state was found to be 256 KHz in which the majority of power consumption is required.