Research Article
Abstract
Non-lethal electric fence technologies gained considerable recognition in various application areas ranging from security to live-stock management and farm automation. Fence energizer, which is essentially a High Voltage Pulsed Power Supply (HVPPS), is a pivotal part of a non-lethal fence system with several design options. Marx generator, which is a well-recognized HVPPS, has never been tried as a fence energizer. This paper investigates potential of Marx generator as a fence energizer and identifies specific requirements and challenges that need to be addressed. Finally, a design of Marx generator is presented for a non-lethal electric fence having voltage rating of 40 kV, output pulse duration of 15 μs, pulse rate of up to 100 Hz and maximum output energy to be lower than 20 mJ per pulse to ensure its non-lethal nature. To meet the design requirements, a novel gate driver design is presented which is compact, cost effective and meets specific requirements of non-lethal nature of the fence.