Design and Simulation of Optimum Triggering Scheme for a Series Switch in RF Heating

Abstract

Plasma is the fourth state of matter. High temperature is essential to sustain the plasma in ionic form. The RF heating system used to provide the required temperature may get damaged due to occurrence of arcing. Series switch (circuit breaker) is one of the most effective and efficient methods of protecting RF generators. The series switch must be operated within stipulated time after the occurrence of electric fault and therefore the triggering circuit of series switch must be designed carefully to obtain optimum results. This paper presents an optimum triggering scheme based on fiber optic triggering. The importance of optical triggering and utilization of fiber optic has be justified. The design is well supported with the experimental results. Finally the system is designed to obtain the triggering with delay of only 4.8μS as compared to the safety margin of 10 μS.