High voltage spark gaps are essentially gas-based switches. These switches are used for transferring large amounts of current, voltage and power into specific Pulse Power equipment.There are several spark gaps which are manufactured at Zeonics, starting from miniature spark gaps in the region of 5kV to large spark gaps of upto 300kV discharge. We manufacture spark gaps from 1kA rating upto 2.45MA. The larger spark gaps are essentially converted to Rail Gaps.

Spark gaps are used for applications like Ignition systems, rocket firing systems, explosive detonation, Lithotripsy, CT scanners, Lightning Arresters, Lightning protection systems, etc.

Whenever there is a pulse power requirement and current requirements are in hundreds of kilo amps or mega amps, a rail gap is the right choice as it offers multi-spark, multi-channel discharge by which the inductance is further lowered and it is as good as connecting many spark gaps firing in parallel.

A typical rail gap switch is a switch which operates under high gas pressure and can have a transient time with discharge & rise time in the region of nano seconds with jitter in a few nanoseconds, pulse currents in the region of 700 to 1000 kA and voltages in the region of 20kV to 100kV, these are essentially used for studies of Z pinch plasmas, fusion, magnetisation, and similar different type of EMP or nuclear activities.

We can design and manufacturing fast high voltage solid-state switching modules using MOSFET, SiC, IGBT, MCT and Thyristor technology, for voltages up to 200 kV. The solid-state switch program is divided in two basic categories: Switches with a fixed on-time and switches with a variable on-time. Switches with fixed on-time are very cost-efficient and are used mainly in simple charge or discharge circuits. Due to their excellent EMC characteristics they are ideal switching elements in generator circuits for damped oscillations, especially in connection with the fast free wheeling diodes which we manufacture. Switches with fixed on-time are also the first choice, if the application requires extreme di/dt’s, very fast voltage rise time or very short pulses. In contrast to the switches with fixed on-time, switches with variable on-time have a true relay behavior and are therefore more universally applicable. They are ideal in applications with variable pulse width, variable duty cycle or in cases, where an infinite on-time is required.