International Journal of Science and Technology Education Research Vol. 2(7), pp.

109 - 119, July 2011

Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSTER
ISSN 2141-6559 ©2011 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Multi-purpose low cost DC high voltage generator (60

kV output), using Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier
circuit
C. K. Dwivedi1* and M. B. Daigavane2
1
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Disha Institute of Management and Technology,
Raipur - 492101, India.
2
College of Engineering, Sewagram (Nagpur), India.
Accepted 31 May, 2011

This work describes the details of high voltage D.C. power supply whose output is 60 kV, whereas its
input voltage is 1-Φ 50 Hz 5 kV of sinusoidal waveform. This test set is suitable for field testing of high
voltage cables, as a prime D.C source for very low frequency high voltage test, oscillating wave
technique and impulse voltage charging unit due to its light weight and portability. In this study, we
constructed a prototype high voltage power supply based on design, simulation and implementation of
hardware work in laboratory. The simulation work has been done by using Mat. Lab. Version 7.0
software.

Key words: VLF, OWT, impulse generator, Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier circuit.

INTRODUCTION

High voltage D.C. power supply is widely used in the equipments/apparatus are likely to encounter. The
research work (especially in field of applied physics) and tests are conducted with voltage higher than the normal
in industry level the main application of high voltage d.c. working voltage to find out the safety factors over the
Power supply is in proof design of high voltage cables working conditions and to ensure that the working margin
with relatively large capacitive load, which draws high is neither too high nor too low.
current if it is tested with A.C. high voltage power The high voltages, in use, can be divided in to the
frequency of sinusoidal waveform instead of d.c. voltage following categories,
Kuffel et al. (2000). High voltages are generated for
dielectric testing of high voltage equipments at power i) A.C. high voltage
frequency A.C. / D.C. switching surge voltage and ii) D.C. high voltage and
lightning impulse voltages. For dielectric testing of high iii) Transient voltage (Khan, 2004; Mazen and Radwan,
voltage equipments, voltages are increased up to several 2000).
million volts but currents are decreased to few milliamps
and maximum of one ampere for A.C. /D.C. high voltage Joseph (2001) presented his paper as the basic
test sets. There are several application of D.C. high operation of multiplier circuit such as half wave voltage
voltage, in the field of electrical engineering and applied doublers and triplen circuit, and discussed guide lines for
physics such as electron microscope, X-rays, electro- electronic components selection for diodes and
static precipitators, particles accelerator in nuclear capacitors.
physics, dielectric testing and so on (Naidu and Spencer et al. (2001) designed prototype surface
Kamaraju, 2004). The high voltage equipments are used mounted Cockcroft-Walton board and tested for use in
to study the dielectric behaviors under all conditions where battery operated, palm sized radiation detection device
and it took around output voltage of 1kV and current less
than 15mA (approx.). In addition to circuit components,
the board contains sockets which hold two Hamartsu
*Corresponding author. E-mail: ckant.dwivedi@gmail.com. R7400P PMTS.
 Dwivedi and Daigvane 110

Juichi and Yuzurihara (1988). developed new idea to to minimize hazards where as primary feeds control
develop D.C. high voltage power supply. They introduced circuit. In this way Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier is
high frequency switching converter, as result the shape isolated from main line as result mitigation of switching
becomes smaller. The conventional C.W voltage surge voltages (Burgler, 1971).
multiplier circuit ignores the inductance but they have In this paper, the main emphasis has been given up at
used inductance as well. They were able to produce 70 the first stage on design, simulation and development of
kV, 0.15 A D.C. power supplies. high voltage D.C. power supply. At the second stage, the
Aintablian and Hill (1994) discussed about the single D.C. power supply is constructed based on hardware
phase harmonic reduction circuit based on voltage implementation which can be utilized for various appli-
multiplier circuit using switch operated on line frequency cations. At the first stage of this work is to study voltage
instead of using switching mode technology. The doublers circuit and Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier
advantage of this circuit is that of low cost, high reliability circuits and to simulate the circuit for designed value of
and simple control. The disadvantage of this circuit is that D.C. output voltage. And finally, prototype hardware
it cannot completely control the harmonic current. John (assembly of components) is constructed in laboratory at
(1993) explained single phase voltage doublers PWM the output D.C. Voltage of 60kV based on Cockcroft-
boost rectifiers and has obtained three types of switching Walton voltage multiplier circuits. The conventional
pattern namely unipolar PWM, bipolar PWM and phase technique is used because the designed set is intended
adjusted unipolar PWM. When high voltage output is to be applied for VLF, OWTS, and Impulse charging units
required, the voltage doublers rectifier is able to generate or laser excitation. The main components, used for
a. c. line current with lowest current distortion. Yamamoto construction of high voltage D.C power supply, are epoxy
et al. (2000) proposed power factor correction scheme molded single phase step-up transformer, diodes and
using voltage doublers rectifier circuit without switching capacitors. The control systems are on low voltage side
device. In this method using voltage doublers rectifier, the (that is, 220 volts) considering the safety factors for
current is divided into two periods where one period operator. The different voltage can be taken out through
charges the small input capacitor and second period tapping at every stage of C.W voltage multiplier circuit.
charges the largest output capacitor through a filter This test set will be friendly user in industries for field
capacitor. Zhang et al. (2002) discussed in their paper testing as well as in laboratory. The advantages of this
about the experimental report of voltage triplex circuit set are low cost, high reliability, portability and simple
.They proposed voltage triplen with symmetrical stacking control.
charge pumps. The advantage of their circuit is to have
rapid rise of time for output voltage.
COCKCROFT-WALTON VOLTAGE MULTIPLIER
Voltage multiplier circuit: It is already known how a CIRCUIT
transformer functions to increase or decrease voltages. It
is also known that a transformer’s secondary may provide In 1932 Cockcroft-Walton suggested an improvement
one or more A.C. voltage output which may be greater or over the circuit developed by Greinacher for generation of
lesser than output voltage, when voltages are stepped up high D.C. voltage. Figure 1 shows multi stage single
current decreases and when voltages are stepped down phase circuit of Cockcroft-Walton type.
current increases. There is another method to increase In Figure 1, the portion, ABM’MA exactly identical to
voltage that is voltage multiplier. Voltage multiplier voltage doubler circuit. During the nest half cycle when B
circuits are used primarily to develop high voltages where becomes positive with respect to A, potential of M falls
low current is required. The output voltage of Voltage and therefore, potential of N also becoming less than
multiplier circuits may be several times more than the potential at M’, hence C2 charged through D2. Finally all
input voltage. For this reason, Voltage multipliers are the capacitors C1, C2’, C3, C1, C2 and C3 are charged.
used in special applications where load is constant and The voltage across the column of capacitors consisting of
has high impedance or where input voltage stability is not C1, C2, and C3 keeps on oscillating as supply voltage
critical. The classification of voltage multiplier depends on alternates. Therefore, this column is known as oscillating
the ratio of output voltage to input voltage such as column. However, the voltage across C’1, C’2, C’3,
doubler, triplen, quadruples and n-plex. remains constants and it is known as smoothening
The Voltage multiplier circuit which has the ratio of column. The voltage at M’, N’ and O’ are 2, 4 and 6Vmax.
output voltage to input voltage depending on number of Therefore voltage across all the capacitors is 2Vmax,
stages is called Cockcroft-Walton Voltage multiplier except for C1 where it is Vmax only. The total output
circuit which is used to develop high voltages in order of voltage will be 2nVmax where n is the number of stages.
several kV. An output voltage, from any stage, can be Thus the multistage arranged in manner above enables
taken out through tapings. In this work, the input voltage, to obtain very high voltage. The equal stress of elements
for Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier, has been taken (diodes and capacitors) used is very helpful and
from the secondary of single phase step-up transformer promotes a modular design of such generators.
 111 Int. J. Sci. Technol. Educ. Res.

Figure 1. C-W. Voltage multiplier circuit.

ripple and regulation are not considered. The ripple

voltage δv and voltage drop ∆V can be derived in
cascade voltage multiplier circuit.

The ripple factor δV = (I/f *C) {n (n+1)/2}

where I = load current in amperes, f = frequency in Hz, C

= Capacitance in farad, n1 = No. of capacitor = 2×No. of
stages = 2n (n = No. of stages).

So that,

Voltage drop ∆V = (I/fc) (2/3 n³ + n²/2-n/6)

Regulation of voltage = V/2nEm,
Ripple (%) = δV/2nEm

Calculation of optimum no. of stages (optimum) for

minimum voltage drop or minimum regulation optimum =
√ (Em f C/I).

DESIGN CRITERIA

Capacitor selection
Figure 2. n-stage voltage multiplier circuit.
Capacitors -- C1,C2…….Cn; Diodes------D1, D2 … Dn; The size of capacitors used in multiplier circuit is directly
Series Resistance ….. Rs; HTT- Single phase Step-up proportional to the frequency of input signal. Capacitor
Transformer used in off line, 50 Hz application is usually in the range
D.C. Output voltage from different stages-- 2Em, 4Em…
of 1.0 to 200 microfarad. While those used in high
frequency applications, say 10 kHz are typically in the
range of 0.02 to 0.06 microfarad.
Considering Figure 2, the design of Cockcroft-Walton The voltage rating of capacitor is determined by the
voltage multiplier circuit is relatively easy. Careful type of multiplier circuit. The capacitor must be capable of
consideration of all component parameters is the only withstanding a maximum voltage depending upon the
way to insure both reliable and predictable circuit numbers of staged used. A good thumb rule is to select
performance. Actually the design of high order cascade capacitor whose voltage rating is approximately twice that
voltage multiplier network is not complete, unless the of actual peak applied voltage. For example a capacitor
 Dwivedi and Daigvane 112

which will see a peak voltage of 2Em should have a C'1 = NC1,
voltage rating of approximately 4Em.
Where C1 = first multiplier circuit capacitance, C'1 =
Referred capacitance on primary side N = turns ratio of
Diode selection high voltage transformer N2/N1.

Prior to selection of diode basic device parameter must As the circuit turns on, large current will be developed
be considered. in the primary side as this effective capacitance begins
charging. On the secondary side significant surge current
Repetitive peak reverse voltage: Repetitive peak can flow through the rectifiers during initial capacitor
inverse voltage is the maximum instantaneous value of charging at turn on. The addition of a series resistance
reverse voltage across the diode. Applied reverse voltage Rs can greatly reduced these current surges as well as
below this maximum value will produce only negligible those in the primary circuitry.
leakage current through the device where as voltage in
excess of the maximum value can cause circuit Rs = V Peak / Ifsm.
malfunction and even permanent component damage
because sufficient leakage current will flow through the For example maximum secondary voltage, VRMS = 260
device. In case of multiplier circuit reverse voltage seen volts, then Vpeak = 1.414 × 260 V.
by each diode is 2Em. So the device must be selected
with reverse voltage (VRRM) setting of at least 2Em. Rs = 1.414 × 260 / 15 = 24.4 Ohm, Ifsm = Forward surge
current rating of diode = 15 Amp.
Frequency of input signal: While selecting rectifier
diode, the frequency of input signal to multiplier circuit Forward current (I0): As sited earlier that; ideal
must be taken into account. For symmetrical input multiplier circuit, the load will draw no current. Ideally
signals, the device chosen must be capable of switching significant current flow through the rectifier occurs during
at speed faster than the rise and fall times of the input. If capacitor charging. Therefore, device with very low
the reverse recovery time is too long the efficiency and current rating (100 mA) and in case of HT/MVcables. It
regulation of the device will suffer. In the worst case comes to micro amperes can be used. It must be noted
insufficient recovery speed will result in accessing that forward current and forward surge current rating are
heating of device. And in this case permanent damage of related.
device will take place. The reverse recovery time is very Since both are the function of silicon die area. It is truly
dependent upon the circuit and the condition being used speaking that devices with a high surge current rating
to make the measurement. Reverse recovery Time Ifsm will also have high forward current I0 rating and vice-
specification should be used for qualitative, not versa.
quantitative purposes since condition specified for the
measurement rarely reflects those found in actual real life Forward voltage (Vf): In practice the forward voltage
circuit operation. drop Vf of the rectifier does not have significant effect on
Decreasing current flow in the multiplier circuit makes it multiplier networks overall efficiency. For example if the
possible to use higher input frequency. An increase in rectifier diodes has forward drop of 2.0 volt when
current flow has been the opposite effect. Ideally the measured at a current of 100 mA. A half wave doublers
multiplier network load should draw no current. multiplier with 8kV output will have then 0.05% (2×2/8 kV)
loss in efficiency due to forward voltage drop. The above
Peak forward surge current (Ifsm): Peak forward surge calculation is based on a thumb rule that;
current rating is given for most of rectifier diodes. This
rating corresponds to the maximum peak value of single Voltage drop = No. of stages * Forward voltage / Output
half sine wave which, when superimposed on the devices voltage in kV
rated load current can be conducted without damaging of
rectifier. This rating becomes important when considering SIMULATIONS
the large capacitance associated with multiplier network.
Figure 2 is n-stage voltage multiplier circuit Surge The simulation work has been done by using Mat. Lab.
currents can be developed in rectifier circuits due to Version-7.0 software. Figure 3 represents circuit diagram
capacitive loading effects, the large step-up turn ratio for simulation and Figures 4 to 12 are simulated results of
between primary and secondary of most high voltage every stage.
transformer causes the first multiplier capacitor C1(On
the secondary side) to be reflected as much larger Construction of project
capacitance in to the primary. There is a thumb rule for
calculation of this as follows: Figure 13 shows the block diagram, and Figure 14 shows
113 Int. J. Sci. Technol. Educ. Res.

Figure 3. Schematic scheme for simulation.

Figure 4. Transformer’s primary voltage. Figure 5. Transformer’s secondary voltage.

 Dwivedi and Daigvane 114

Figure 9. Stage-4, D.C. output voltage.

Figure 6. Stage-1, D.C. output voltage.

Figure 10. Stage-5, D.C. output voltage.

Figure 7. Stage-2, D.C. output voltage.

Figure 11. Stage-6, D.C. output voltage.

Construction of project

Figure 13 shows the block diagram, and Figure 14 shows

Figure 8. Stage-3, D.C. output voltage. the schematic scheme for fabrication and simulation of
115 Int. J. Sci. Technol. Educ. Res.

Figure 12. Stage-1 to 6, D.C. output voltage.

Figure 13. Block diagram for the project.

 Dwivedi and Daigvane 116

Figure 14. Schematic scheme for the project.

the project. From Figures 13 and14, it is clear that total iv) Output ripple factor - 6.52%
set-up is in two parts that is, low voltage side and v) Output voltage on full load – 39.8 kV
Cockcroft-Walton generator. So, this set is suitable for vi) Voltage drop in multiplier circuit – 19.9 kV
field work due to its light weight, feasibility of
transportation and friendly operation. The circuit of this The calculated data are as follows:-
project is very simple. This set will be used for testing of
High Voltage cable at side, and can also be used as i) Minimum stage output power – 27.03 W
prime High Voltage DC source for VLF,OWT and as ii) CW output power - 27.03 W
charging unit for Impulse generators. iii) Total stored energy in capacitor under no load -
65271.7 mJ
iv) Total stored energy in capacitor under full load
EXPERIMENTAL WORK 29009.47 mJ

The values of main hardware components are given as

The simulation works are incorporated by implementing follows:
and testing the circuit in the laboratory. The input voltage,
to Cockcroft-Walton Voltage multiplier circuit, was set to 5 i) High voltage epoxy molded input transformer- 230 V /
kV and its output voltage, obtained from 6 stage 5.0kV, 50mA
Cockcroft-Walton Voltage multiplier circuit as shown in ii) Capacitors used- 0.22 µF two in series: Resultant
Figures 11 and 12, is 60 kV. Value-0.11 µF / 110 nF
From hardware experiment in laboratory, the following iii) Potential divider HV-600 MΩ, LV- 6.0 kΩ.
data have been obtained: iv) Diodes- Type- G 10 FS [Repetitive Peak Reverse
Voltage- 10kV, Average Forward Current- 25 mA,
i) Driver stage frequency - 0.05 KHz Maximum Forward Voltage Drop-25 V
ii) Open circuit output voltage - 59.7 kV
iii) Output ripple voltage - 2.6 kV Figure 15 shows the characteristic of output voltages and
117 Int. J. Sci. Technol. Educ. Res

Number of stages
Figure 15. Output Voltage Vs number of stages.

number of stages. It is clear that the output voltage of MV capacity compared to other methods Kuffel et al.
increases according to number of stage. Figure 16 (2000); Naidu and Kamaraju, 2004; Khan, 2004; Mazen
reveals the effect of varying load current on output and Radwan 2000). Suggestion is that based on
voltage. The output voltage decreases as load current Cockcroft-Walton Voltage multiplier circuit, the designed
increases. The characteristic of the graph is drooping. DC power supply structure is not compact, nowadays,
Figure 17 shows that voltage drop increases as the load trends to make it smaller in shape, if one can follow the
current increases. It means as the capacitive load (in high frequency switching converter technology, then its
case of H.V. cables) increases the voltage drop will be shape can be reduced based on utilities demand (Juichi
more. Figure 18 shows the characteristic of Load Current and Yuzurihara, 1988).
Vs Ripple Voltage. The ripple voltage increases as the
load current increases. Figure 19 is the photograph of
prototype developed hardware, in laboratory, for six stage CONCLUSIONS
Cockcroft –Walton Voltage multiplier circuit (6 Stages).
This set can be applied for testing of HV/MV cables The following conclusions could be made from this work:-
having different voltage grade. This can also be utilized
as injecting voltage source for VLF, OWT and impulse i) From the simulation and hardware implementation, it is
voltage generator. noted that a Mat. Lab based design for high voltage D.C.
power supply at 60kV output has been proposed and
developed. The system hardware has been successfully
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORK fabricated and tested in laboratory. The simulation and
experimental results have been observed to be in
After developing D.C. Power supply at 60kV output and agreement.
handling all the simulations and hardware results as ii) Cockcroft-Walton Voltage multiplier circuit is used
slated above, it is noted that the developed high voltage when higher magnitude of output high voltage DC power
D.C. Power supply based on C.W. voltage multiplier supply is required without changing the input transformer
circuit is an unique designed and developed for special voltage level. It is used only in special applications when
applications like field testing of high voltage cables, prime the load, under test, is highly capacitive or where the
D.C. Power sources for VLF and OWT and as charging input voltage stability is not critical.
unit for Impulse generators. iii) This kind of high voltage DC power supply test set is
It is a unique circuit because voltage multiplier circuit is of simple control, low cost, portable due to its light weight
combination of diodes and capacitors and they have an robust and high reliability. Different magnitude of High
advantage of being simple and state circuit with fairly low voltage DC output can be taken from different stages
parts count and being able to produce output voltage without changing the input voltage.
much higher than input voltage as per project demand. iv) This developed equipment will be very useful for field
Most DC test sets are constructed at low frequency testing of HV cables of different voltage grade, as a prime
instead of high frequency. It is low cost, less insulation is DC source for VLF and OW testing set and charging unit
required and its range can starts from even 1kV instead of impulse generators.
 Dwivedi and Daigvane 118

Figure 16. Load current vs output voltage.

Figure 17. Load current vs voltage drop.

Figure 18. Load current vs ripple voltage.

 119 Int. J. Sci. Technol. Educ. Res.

Figure 19. Authors with proto-type set.

v) As this test set is divided in two parts [that is (a) Mazen AS, Radwan R (2000). High Voltage Engineering Theory and
transformer and control unit and (b) multiplier circuit], it is Practice. Sec. Edn. Revised and Expanded, Marcel Dekker, Inc. Am.
J. Appl. Sci., 3 (12): 2178-2183, 2006 2183.
very easy for transportation to test sites and this test set Naidu MS, Kamaraju V (2004). High Voltage Engineering. Third Edn.
can be assembled in few minutes. McGraw- Hill Company Ltd. pp. 146-156
vi) The beauty of this equipment is due to its high Spencer DFR (2001). Aryaeinejad and E.L. Reber. Using the Cockcroft-
Walton Voltage Multiplier Design in Handheld Devices. Idaho
reliability, light weight, less expensive and capability to
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625,
produce different magnitude of high voltage DC output at Idaho Falls, ID 83415.
every stage. Yamamoto I, Matsui K, Ueda F (2000). A power factor correction with
voltage doubler rectifier. Chubu University, Dep. Electrical Eng.
Japan, IEEE. 137(3): 52–58.
Zhang M, Iaser NL, Devos F (2002). Experimental results of an
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