Operation of 20 Hz Marx generators on a common electrolytic load in an electroporation chamber

Abstract

Electroporation of a large amount of biological material is subject of an industrial development project with the goals to save energy and to avoid disadvantages coming up with thermal cell denaturation. Electroporation takes place in a water-fruit suspension with embedded electrodes. Electric polarization effects are responsible for the formation of irreversible openings in the cell membranes. Pulsed high electric fields in the order of 10 kV/cm are produced by means of two 7-stage Marx generators (350 kV output voltage, pulse length 1.5 /spl mu/s, 2 GW, repetition rate 20 Hz). Due to the need of industrial-scale throughput it is necessary to operate several free running generators simultaneously being connected to one electroporation chamber. The paper describes the experiences obtained during development and testing of the device.