Matching a pulsed power modulator to a corona plasma reactor

Abstract

In this paper, the matching between the a pulsed power modulator and a corona plasma reactor is discussed. The matching is expressed as the energy transfer efficiency between the modulator and the reactor. The criterion for optimal matching between a source and a load is that the output impedance of the source is equal to the load impedance. When trying to match a pulsed power modulator to a plasma reactor this criterion is difficult to obey since the load impedance changes rapidly before, during and after plasma generation. To simulate the response of the load as function of the voltage pulse, an equivalent circuit is used. Measurements will be presented to verify the derived model. Guidelines to optimize the matching between the modulator and reactor are derived.

Tunable Matching Networks Based on Phase-Switched Impedance Modulation1

“…Dynamic component tuning and impedance matching have application to a diverse range of radio-frequency (RF) power applications, including software-defined radios [1], frequencyagile and adaptive RF transmitters and receivers [2], [3], new types of highly-efficient RF power amplifiers [4], plasma drivers [17], generators [5], [6], wireless power transfer [7,19,20], power converters [14] and many other industrial processes. Electronically-controlled tunable impedance matching networks (TMNs) in particular can be valuable in many RF applications.…”