Patent ID: 8331118

Claim:
A high DC voltage generator, the generator comprising: a current switch unit ( 40 ) suitable for receiving as input a direct current and for delivering as output polyphase voltage and current made up of N periodic currents phase offset relative to one another, the phase offsets of the N periodic currents being uniformly distributed over the range 0 to 2π radians, where 2π corresponds to one period of the fundamental frequency f 0 of the periodic currents, and N is an integer greater than or equal to three, the switch unit having N branches ( 54 - 56 ) connected in parallel between DC input and output points ( 50 , 52 ), each branch being formed by a top half-branch and a bottom half-branch connected in series via a midpoint ( 60 - 62 ), each midpoint delivering a respective one of the phase-offset periodic currents of the polyphase current, each top or bottom half-branch including a controllable switch ( 74 , 76 ) suitable for switching between an on state in which current can flow through said half-branch and an off state in which no current can flow through said half-branch in either direction; a transformer ( 42 ) connected to the output of the switch unit ( 40 ), the transformer being suitable for transforming the polyphase voltage into a polyphase high voltage of greater amplitude; a rectifier ( 44 ) connected to the secondary of the transformer ( 42 ), the rectifier being suitable for transforming the polyphase high voltage from the transformer into a rectified high voltage; and a control unit ( 130 ) for controlling the switches of the switch unit, wherein: each switch ( 74 , 76 ) comprises a controllable transistor connected in series with a diode so as to form a unidirectional current switch, current being capable of flowing in the on state only from the positive terminal towards the negative terminal; and said control unit ( 130 ) is suitable for: causing a switch ( 74 ) of a top half-branch to switch from the on state to the off state solely at an instant when a switch of another top half-branch is in the on state; and causing a switch ( 76 ) of a bottom half-branch to switch from the on state to the off state solely at an instant when a switch of another bottom half-branch is in the on state.