The effect of pulsed electric fields on biological cells:experiments and applications

The effect of pulsed electric fields with amplitudes in the range of 100 V/cm-100 kV/cm on bacteria and aquatic nuisance species has been explored. The pulse duration was so short that heating of the biological matter could be neglected. The electrical energy required for lysing of bacteria, or stunning of aquatic species, decreases when the pulse duration is reduced. For lysing of Eschericia coli, this tendency has been proven to hold for pulsewidths as short as 60 ns. For macroorganisms, however, it was found that for pulsewidths of less than 5 μs, the tendency is reversed: the energy required to affect the macroorganisms increases again. This minimum in energy, or maximum in efficiency, respectively, can be understood by taking the time required for electrical charging of the cell membrane into account. Applications of the pulsed electric field technique (PEFT) are in biofouling prevention, debacterialization of liquids, and in the field of medicine. A series of field tests on biofouling prevention in a cooling system with untreated water as coolant has demonstrated the economic feasibility of the electro-technology     

脉冲电场防治水生生物附着

为探究脉冲电场对防治水生生物附着效果的影响因素,确定有效防治附着生物所需的最低电场条件,搭建了脉冲电场试验平台,通过人工脉冲形成线产生近似方波的脉冲,统计不同条件下大型溞死亡率和形态结构发生的变化,通过函数拟合得到了脉冲电场诱导死亡率与电场强度、总等效处理时间、脉冲注入能量密度之间的函数关系,并以某干渠工程为例介绍了脉冲电场防治大型溞的参数选取原则和平台搭建方法。结果表明,脉冲电场对大型溞的处理效果与电场强度、总等效处理时间和脉冲注入能量密度都呈正相关关系。电场强度介于0.5～1.5 kV/cm之间时,电场强度每增加0.5 kV/cm,诱导死亡率增加35%左右。电场强度高于2.0 kV/cm、总等效处理时间大于900μs或脉冲注入能量密度高于80 J/L时,脉冲电场都可以产生80%以上的诱导死亡率。     

Generation of single-cycle THz transients with high electric-field amplitudes

Single-cycle terahertz (THz) transients in the frequency range 0.3-7 THz with electric-field amplitudes of more than 400 kV/cm are generated by four-wave mixing of the fundamental and the second harmonic of 25 fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire amplifier in ionized air. These transients are fully characterized by electro-optic sampling with ZnTe and GaP crystals. One can tune the center frequency of the THz transients by varying the length of the incident pulse. The electric-field amplitude increases linearly with the incident pulse energy.     

Probe Measurements of Parameters of Streamers of Nanosecond Frequency Crown Discharge

Investigations of the parameters of single streamers of nanosecond frequency corona discharge, creating a voluminous low-temperature plasma in extended coaxial electrode systems, are performed. Measurements of the parameters of streamers were made by an isolated probe situated on the outer grounded electrode. Streamers were generated under the action of voltage pulses with a front of 50–300 ns, duration of 100–600 ns, and amplitude up to 100 kV at the frequency of 50–1000 Hz. The pulse voltage, the total current of the corona, current per probe, and glow in the discharge gap were recorded in the experiments. It was established that, at these parameters of pulse voltage, streamers propagate at an average strength of the electric field of 4–10 kV/cm. Increasing the pulse amplitude leads to an increase in the number of streamers hitting the probe, an increase in the average charge of the head of a streamer, and, as a consequence, an increase in the total streamer current and the energy introduced into the gas. In the intervals up to 3 cm, streamer breakdown at an average field strength of 5–10 kV/cm is possible. In longer intervals, during the buildup of voltage after generation of the main pulse, RF breakdown is observed at Е_av ≈ 4 kV/cm.     

小型化电感隔离型Marx发生器的研制

随着脉冲功率技术的发展,纳秒脉冲电场被逐渐应用到等离子体水处理、不可逆电穿孔肿瘤消融等技术中。为了满足纳秒脉冲的应用需求,电源需要输出十几kV高压,拥有纳秒窄脉宽和快速的上升沿,同时尽量减小电源体积,降低成本。该纳秒脉冲电源采用电感隔离型Marx发生器结构,电路可以实现模块化叠加,电感隔离可以减少开关数量,抬升充电电压,以获得更高的电压输出。所设计的驱动电路仅需一路控制信号和一个直流供电模块,经功率放大和磁隔离后可同时控制所有放电管,该驱动电路结构简单、成本低、体积小,耐压水平高。所设计的24级电源样机,在50 kΩ阻性负载上,可输出0～14 kV电压,频率0.5～1 kHz,脉宽500 ns。该电源主电路的长宽高尺寸仅为23 cm×10 cm×12 cm。     

Behavior of prebreakdown emission centers with 200-kv 100-ns pulses applied to a vacuum gap

Using an electron-transparent anode (titanium foil), the behavior of prebreakdown emission centers on a cathode made of 12X18H10T stainless steel is studied for the case of vacuum gap excitation by 100-ns-wide voltage pulses with an amplitude of 200 kV. To raise the working electric field to 1 MV/cm or higher, the electrodes are preprocessed by a low-energy high-current electron beam in the surface melting mode. It is found that prebreakdown emission centers may be stable and unstable. The stable ones arise at an electric field strength of 0.4?C0.6 MV/cm, and their activity grows with voltage up to breakdown. As the electric field increases, new unstable emission centers occur at sites other than those observed at the previous voltage pulse. Reasons for the appearance of unstable emission centers are discussed.     

Optical transitions of holes in uniaxially compressed germanium

Spontaneous emission and photoconductivity of germanium with gallium impurity are studied for determining the energy spectrum of hole states in this material in which radiation can be induced as a result of transitions of holes between these states. Holes were excited by electric field pulses with a strength up to 12 kV/cm at T = 4.2 K under uniaxial compression of samples up to 12 kbar. It has been found that hole emission spectra for transitions between resonant and local states of the impurity have a structure identical to the photoconductivity and absorption spectra. Transitions from resonance states, which are associated with the heavy hole subband, have not been detected. It has been found that in an electric field lower than 100 V/cm, a compressed crystal emits as a result of transitions of heavy holes. In a strong electric field (1–3 kV/cm), emission is observed in the energy range up to 140 meV, and transitions with emission of TA and LO phonons appear in such a field. The emission spectra under pressures of 0 and 12 kbar differ insignificantly. Hence, it follows that the contributions from heavy and light holes in a strong electric field are indistinguishable.     

双极性固态直线变压器驱动器的研制

在针对脉冲电磁场肿瘤消融的应用场合,双极性脉冲比单极性脉冲效果更均匀,而要产生ns级前沿的双极性高压纳秒或亚微秒脉冲难度大,电磁干扰强,控制要求更高。设计了一台双极性全固态直线型变压器驱动源(SSLTD),双极性SSLTD由结构完全相同的LTD模块经过副边绕组反向串联构成,在负载上实现双极性窄脉冲。双极性SSLTD输出波形稳定的脉冲的关键在于磁芯复位,通过电阻负载实验,重点对比分析了复位电流的形式对复位效果的影响,以及采用直流复位时幅值、脉宽、正负脉冲时间间隔、单级模块中开关管并联数量、复位电流大小对双极性SSLTD输出的影响。实验结果表明,所设计的双极性SSLTD能够在500 Ω负载上稳定产生重频双极性纳秒脉冲,输出电压0～±5 kV可调,脉宽200～400 ns可调,正负脉冲时间间隔0～1 ms可调,上升沿和下降沿20～50 ns;反向串联的直流复位电路结构简单、复位效果好。该脉冲源使用模块化设计,结构紧凑,电气绝缘要求较低,可灵活输出双极性、正极性与负极性高压亚微秒脉冲。     

光导开关Blumlein型脉冲网络电压传输效率

为了在高阻负载上获得高效率的重复频率平顶高压脉冲输出,开展了影响基于光导开关的Blumlein型脉冲形成网络电压传输效率因素的初步实验研究。以陶瓷电容、铝条和GaAs光导开关构成全固态Blumlein型脉冲形成网络（BPFN）,采用气体间隙进行了设计参数的验证实验,在匹配负载上研究了光导开关工作场强、激光触发能量与BPFN电压转换效率的关系。设计的BPFN阻抗7.8 ,电长度32.6 ns,实验表明光导开关较高的导通电阻是影响PCSS-BPFN电压传输效率的主要因素。当触发激光能量30.4 mJ,工作场强25.1 kV/cm时,获得电压效率83.2%,相应最小导通电阻1.89 ;在触发激光能量3.5 mJ时,为了使阻抗为7.8 的BPFN在匹配负载上达到75%以上电压传输效率,应至少使光导开关工作场强为25.1 kV/cm,相应最小导通电阻2.88 。     

潮汐河道中热电厂冷却水系统水力热力数值模拟

本文采用L_∞稳定的分步杂交方法^[5],数值模拟了热电厂冷却水系统在潮汐作用下的取水温度和水环境温度,对其水力热力特性和水环境污染进行了预测。计算的潮位、流速与原体实测资料吻合良好,平均取水温升和远区环境水温与物理模型试验也很一致。     

Generation of high-power ultrawideband electromagnetic pulses in a system with a coaxial tem horn

A coaxial TEM horn was designed on the basis of results from nonstationary computer modeling using code KARAT. With its high dielectric strength, this antenna is capable of radiating high-power ultrawideband nanosecond pulses. The pulse source used was a compact generator built around a coaxial forming line with a built-in Tesla transformer, which shapes pulses up to 1 GW high at repetition frequencies up to 1 kHz. The amplitude of the pulses on a matched load was 20 kV at a duration of 4 nsec. Returns of ultrawideband signals from objects with simple geometric shapes were studied in laboratory experiments using this radiator. Institute of High-Current Electronics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 110–118, December, 1996.     

微牛物污垢形成的传热传质模型

为研究循环冷却水中微生物污垢的形成,本文综合考虑微生物的传质和吸附过程,建立了微生物污垢形成的传热传质模型。该模型基于微生物生长动力学原理,建立了水质参数与污垢热阻的关联关系,并考虑了微生物比生长速率、致垢物质的沉积与脱除速率。通过微生物污垢动态模拟实验,对相关参数进行分析测量,以验证该传热传质模型准确性。实验结果表明:由该模型计算的污垢热阻预测值能够与实验结果很好吻合,验证了该模型的正确性,其综合预测误差为5.8%。     

基于光导开关的Blumlein型PFN能量转换效率

为了驱动低能重复频率高阻抗X光管,采用低感陶瓷电容构建了一套电长度约33.5 ns、阻抗约8 的Blumlein型脉冲形成网络（BPFN）,在匹配负载条件下研究了采用GaAs光导开关（PCSS）作为脉冲输出开关时PCSS工作场强、激光触发能量与能量转换效率的关系。实验表明:PCSS截止场强为3.21～4.94 kV/cm,在工作场强高于20 kV/cm时,截止场强引起的能量损失对能量转换效率的影响不大;PCSS较高的导通电阻是影响PFN能量转换效率的主要因素,随着工作场强、激光触发能量的上升,能量转换效率呈指数上升趋势。     

13μs,200ns和2ns脉冲电场对酵母菌杀灭效果分析

研究了脉冲宽度对高压脉冲下细胞膜和细胞器膜跨膜电压的影响及细胞膜能量的变化,以及13μs,200ns和2ns脉冲对酿酒酵母(CICC31180)杀灭作用时脉冲数的影响。结果表明,随着脉冲数增加,13μs,200ns和2ns脉冲对啤酒酵母的灭杀效果均增强。在13μs脉宽,14kV电压和50个脉冲数下,酵母达到最小存活率-4.3个对数;在200ns脉宽,40kV电压和500个脉冲数下,酵母达到存活率-2.6个对数;在2ns脉宽,200kV电压和500个脉冲数下,酵母达到存活率-2.8个对数。三种脉冲对酵母菌杀灭的存活率对数与脉冲数的关系表现不是线性的,脉冲数增加到一定程度,存活率下降变缓。在同等灭杀效果-2.0个对数下,2ns脉冲比13μs脉冲在同轴电极中损耗的能量更少。     

Nanosecond pulsed power generator for a voltage amplitude up to 300 kV and a repetition rate up to 16 Hz for fine disintegration of quartz

A generator of high-power high-voltage nanosecond pulses is intended for electrical discharge disintegration of mineral quartz and other nonconducting minerals. It includes a 320 kV Marx pulsed voltage generator, a high-voltage glycerin-insulated coaxial peaking capacitor, and an output gas spark switch followed by a load, an electric discharge disintegration chamber. The main parameters of the generator are as follows: a voltage pulse amplitude of up to 300 kV, an output impedance of ≈10 Ω, a discharge current amplitude of up to 25 kA for a half-period of 80–90 ns, and a pulse repetition rate of up to 16 Hz.     

全固态高重频高压脉冲电源

设计了一款全固态高重频高压脉冲电源,主电路采用以IGBT为主开关的半桥式固态Marx电路,驱动电路采用磁芯隔离带负压偏置的同步驱动方案,并由FPGA提供充放电控制信号和故障诊断、保护。该方案既可实现对多级电容的低阻抗的快速并联充电控制,又可实现截尾功能以加快脉冲后沿获得方波脉冲,且可实现百μs以上的宽脉冲输出,可用来产生高压脉冲电场。此外,该电源还可在突发模式下输出脉冲个数和频率均可调的多个高频脉冲系列。实验表明,该输出电压幅值可高达40 kV,输出峰值电流可达100 A,重频可达30 kHz,上升沿和下降沿均低于100 ns,突发模式下重频可高达200 kHz。所设计的脉冲电源输出参数连续可调,且体积小巧。     

一种重复脉冲同轴馈电型陶瓷真空界面

真空界面是脉冲功率装置的薄弱环节,对于重频运行的系统,该问题更为突出。介绍了一种应用于重频脉冲驱动源的陶瓷绝缘子真空界面。首先依据真空沿面闪络设计原则给出了一种改进型同轴馈电陶瓷真空界面绝缘结构,该结构采用陶瓷-金属钎焊连接形式;通过采取均压、屏蔽措施,静电场模拟结果显示,陶瓷沿面电场分布均匀,总场强小于100 kV/cm,沿面分量小于70 kV/cm,阴、阳极三结合点场强均小于40 kV/cm;在输出幅值600 kV、脉宽80 ns、重复频率1~5 Hz可调的脉冲功率驱动源上进行了实验测试,陶瓷真空界面平均绝缘场强达到44 kV/cm,运行稳定;采取(0-1)分布对实验结果进行了统计分析,置信度取为0.9时,陶瓷真空界面的可靠度大于97%。最后,还探讨了表面处理工艺对闪络电压的影响,实验发现,增加表面粗糙度可有效提高陶瓷绝缘子的闪络电压。     

Scaling submillimeter single-cycle transients toward megavolts per centimeter field strength via optical rectification in the organic crystal OH1

We present the generation of high-power single-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses in the organic salt crystal 2-[3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5.5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene]malononitrile or OH1. Broadband THz radiation with a central frequency of 1.5 THz (λ(c)=200 μm) and high electric field strength of 440 kV/cm is produced by optical rectification driven by the signal of a powerful femtosecond optical parametric amplifier. A 1.5% pump to THz energy conversion efficiency is reported, and pulse energy stability better than 1% RMS is achieved. An approach toward the realization of higher field strength is discussed.     

Nanosecond discharge in sulfur hexafluoride and the generation of an ultrashort avalanche electron beam

A discharge in the presence of a nonuniform electric field and the generation of an ultrashort avalanche electron beam (UAEB) are studied in the insulating gas SF₆ at the pressures 0.01–2.50 atm. High-voltage nanosecond pulses (about 150 and 250 kV) and the voltage pulses with an amplitude of 25 kV and a duration of tens of nanoseconds are applied across the gap. An electron beam is obtained behind the AlBe foil with a thickness of 45 μm at a sulfur hexafluoride pressure in a gas-filled diode of up to 2 atm. It is demonstrated that, at relatively high pressures (greater than 1 atm) and in the presence of high-voltage nanosecond pulses across the gap, the UAEB pulse FWHM increases. The spectra of the diffuse and contracted discharges in sulfur hexafluoride are measured.     

Study of terahertz radiation generated by optical rectification on thin gold films

Emission of terahertz (THz) radiation as a result of optical rectification of intense femtosecond laser pulses on thin gold films has been studied by time-domain THz spectroscopy. The THz amplitude was measured as a function of film thickness and incidence angle. The experiments reveal that the emitted THz field is suppressed for a thickness below 100 nm, which gives evidence of the nonlocal character of the response. The variation of incidence angle allows us to estimate the components of susceptibility tensor chi2ijk. For thicker films and near grazing incidence, the emitted THz field attains a peak value of 4 kV/cm.