Abstract: The process of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) can be considered as the results of accumulating of many single pulse discharges.In EDM,theaccuracy of plasma passage could be well reflected by studying single pulse discharge characteristics,and the characteristics of the discharge craters can be studied facilitately.Therefore,a single pulse generator has an important role in the fundamental research for EDM.Although many studies about single pulse in EDM were carried out,however,the designs of the single pulse generator were less reported.The design for a dependent single generator was developed with an AT90S8535 microcontroller as acore chip.The design of the main oscillator control circuit,a power switch drive circuit and a detection circuit were introduced.The discharge tests of the single pulse generator in air were conducted and the discharge voltage waveforms were achieved 5、50、180、400 and 800 μs,thus,the feasibility of the generator was verified.

Key words: Electrical Discharge Machining(EDM), single pulse generator, microcontroller