A Split-Source Multisection High-Voltage Power Supply for X-Ray

A high-voltage power supply for X-ray applications is proposed. In the proposed topology, a direct current input of 150-400 V is switched at high frequency (100 kHz) to generate multiphase quasi-sinusoidal voltages. Each phase is then fed to a half-wave Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier section through an isolation transformer, and the multiplier section outputs feed the load. The proposed topology boosts the voltage by two mechanisms: 1) the voltage multiplication and 2) the transformer-like mechanism attained by the multiple isolated sections. The proposed split-source multisection topology attains up to m times higher voltage gain and ripple mitigation (m being the splitting degree). Simulation and experimental results support the effectiveness of the proposed topology. For instance, in one of the experiments, the load voltage was increased from 2.8 to 6.4 kV by applying a split-source three-section topology.