Inventors:
Abdallah M. Itani - Ballston Spa NY
Gerald J. Carlson - Scotia NY
Peter W. Dietz - Greenwich NY
Assignee:
General Electric Company - Schenectady NY
International Classification:
B03C 301
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for protecting switching elements, and in particular, thyristor switching elements, which are used to supply pulses to a capacitive load, from damage resulting from sparkover occurring in that load are described. The load voltage pulse is characterized by a period of rising voltage followed by a period of falling voltage, these two periods being separated by a transition period of maximum vulnerability of the switching element to damage from sparkover. Specifically, during this period of maximum vulnerability of the switching elments to damage, a gate trigger pulse is applied to the elements to cause them to resume a conductive state, independent of the occurrence of an abnormal sparkover condition.