G.B. Masten, I.N. Djachiachvili, D. B. Morris, J. Gahl
{"title":"Operating characteristics of a high-current demountable Cs-Ba tacitron","authors":"G.B. Masten, I.N. Djachiachvili, D. B. Morris, J. Gahl","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596520","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596520","url":null,"abstract":"Tacitrons are triode gas-discharge tubes, similar in construction to thyratrons. The primary functional difference between a tacitron and a thyratron is that the tacitron is designed to be completely grid-controlled, whereas a thyratron has grid control only over ignition. Demountable cesium-barium (Cs-Ba) tacitrons have exhibited very low forward voltage drops in the range of a few volts, hold-off voltages greater than 200 V, and average conduction current densities greater than 10 A/cm/sup 2/. These characteristics yield an average power switching density in the order of 10/sup 3/ W/cm/sup 2/ approaching 95% peak switching efficiency. This parameter regime places the Cs-Ba tacitron in the range of conventional solid-state devices, with the advantage that the tacitron should reliably operate in extremes of temperature and radiation. The high-current tacitron has been designed to modulate average currents in the range of 100 to 200 A, with the intent of demonstrating continuous power conditioning capability in the kilowatt range.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84173038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rapid fire railgun for the cannon caliber electromagnetic gun system","authors":"M. Werst, J. Kitzmiller, A. Zielinski","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596476","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596476","url":null,"abstract":"A rapid fire railgun launcher has been designed and fabricated and a single-shot prototype has been tested for the Cannon Caliber Electromagnetic Gun (CCEMG) System. Three, five round salvos of 185 g launch packages are to be accelerated to 1850 m/s at a rate of 5 Hz. The 2.25 m launcher has a 30 mm round bore equivalent, rectangular geometry and is water-glycol cooled. Rapid fire operation is achieved by driving the launcher with multiple 835 kA pulses provided by the CCEMG compulsator. The launcher is a series augmented railgun and has demonstrated breech efficiencies over 50%. A high CCEMG system efficiency is in part attributable to the use of a solid armature and is enhanced by having a structurally stiff railgun. Historically, a railgun's stiffness was proportional to its weight. Laboratory based railguns that have respectable mechanical properties have required massive structures that are nowhere near meeting the requirements of future vehicle integration and weaponization. The Cannon Caliber railgun design incorporates a directional preloading mechanism, ceramic sidewalls and a composite overwrap which together give it a structural stiffness dominated by high modulus ceramic with an overall mass of only 273 kg. These characteristics make the Cannon Caliber launcher one of the most \"fieldable\" railguns built to date.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80457929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Experimental results of a high power rep-rate velvet cathode","authors":"S. Calico, M. C. Clark, M. Scott","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596786","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596786","url":null,"abstract":"The primary goal of the Electromagnetic Sources Division of the Advanced Weapons and Survivability Directorate at the Phillips Laboratory is the development of high power microwave (HPM) devices for a variety of Air Force Applications. Recent interest has been in the repetition-rate (rep-rate) operation of traditionally single-shot HPM sources. Integral to this development is an understanding of the operation of velvet cathodes at multi-gigawatt power levels under rep-rate conditions. Velvet has been shown to emit very uniformly at relatively low field levels (<30 kV/cm), but suffers from the problem of outgassing during the beam pulse. This outgassing could cause the diode to short in subsequent pulses or a voltage breakdown in other areas of the microwave tube due to the increased pressure. Initial tests have been performed to determine the feasibility of the application of velvet cathodes for rep-rate operation. These tests were performed on the Phillips Laboratory Rep-Rate Pulser, a 5 /spl Omega/, variable voltage, rep-rate device. This pulser can deliver 150-500 kV, 500 ns pulses to a 5 /spl Omega/ load at a rep-rate of a few Hz depending on the operating voltage. The temporal evolution of the pressure within the tube as a function of voltage was monitored during the tests to determine the maximum rep-rate dictated by the velvet cathode. The results of these experiments are given in this paper.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83640170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Jupiter program","authors":"J. J. Ramirez","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596461","url":null,"abstract":"Jupiter is a Sandia National Laboratories initiative to develop the next generation of fast Z-pinch drivers for applications to high energy density physics, inertial confinement fusion, and radiation effects simulation. Jupiter will also provide unique capabilities for science research in a broad spectrum of areas involving ultra high magnetic fields, hot/dense plasmas, X-ray physics, intense neutron sources, etc. The program is based on the premise that a single facility using magnetically driven implosions can meet the needs in these multiple program areas. Jupiter requires a 450-500 TW, 8-10 MV, /spl sim/100 ns pulsed power generator to impart /spl sim/15 MJ kinetic energy to an imploding plasma load. The baseline concept uses a highly modular, robust architecture with demonstrated performance reliability. The design also has the flexibility to drive longer implosion times. This paper describes the Jupiter accelerator concept, and the research underway to establish the technological readiness to proceed with construction of the facility.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89238886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The design and testing of an extended lifetime, high voltage, low jitter trigatron for repetitive operation","authors":"A. J. McPhee, I. Somerville, S. Macgregor","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596485","url":null,"abstract":"One of the main high voltage pulsed power switches currently in use is the high pressure trigatron. It has achieved wide popularity due to its potential for high voltage low jitter operation. The trigatron does however tend to have a limited operating lifetime due to pin erosion, especially when operated repetitively. This paper describes the design and testing of a trigatron spark gap capable of extended lifetime repetitive operation. The trigatron described has been operated at voltages of up to 500 kV at a repetition rate of 100 pps. The trigatron uses a source of negative ions to ensure an initiatory electron supply which leads to sub-nanosecond jitter. To minimise erosion, the region around the trigger electrode was designed using an electrostatic modelling technique. As a result, the trigger electrode design has been optimised producing an overall design with a predicted lifetime of 10/sup 6/ shots.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91263445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Fowler, J. Christian, B. Freeman, J. Goettee, J. King, B. Papatheofanis, R. Reinovsky, P. Rodriguez, M. Sheppard, L. Veeser, W. D. Zerwekh, A. Bykov, M. I. Dolotenko, N. P. Kolokolchikov, Y. Kudasov, V. Platonov, O. Tatsenko, W. Lewis, B. Marshall
{"title":"The Russian-American high magnetic field collaboration","authors":"C. Fowler, J. Christian, B. Freeman, J. Goettee, J. King, B. Papatheofanis, R. Reinovsky, P. Rodriguez, M. Sheppard, L. Veeser, W. D. Zerwekh, A. Bykov, M. I. Dolotenko, N. P. Kolokolchikov, Y. Kudasov, V. Platonov, O. Tatsenko, W. Lewis, B. Marshall","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596524","url":null,"abstract":"The authors report here on a joint experimental shot series with teams from Russia and the United States. The program was based largely upon the MC-1 generator, a high magnetic field explosive flux compressor, developed by the Pavlovskii group at Arzamas-16. The series was of historical interest in that it was carried out in a Los Alamos security area, the first time for such a collaboration. They discuss a number of technical issues involved in matching Russian hardware with Los Alamos explosives, initiation systems and the seed field energy source, as well as comparison of field measuring diagnostics furnished by the two teams. They conclude with a discussion of an investigation of the high temperature superconductor YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ (YBCO), employing these generators. The low temperature critical magnetic field of this material was found to be 340/spl plusmn/40 T, as determined from a 94 GHz microwave interferometer developed for this purpose.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77749051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Mazzola, M. Grothaus, M. Walch, J. Jones-Meehan
{"title":"New electrical control methods to prevent power plant fouling","authors":"M. Mazzola, M. Grothaus, M. Walch, J. Jones-Meehan","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596451","url":null,"abstract":"One new nonchemical method for removal of biofouling utilizes pulsed acoustic waves above the cavitation threshold to remove accumulated scale and/or biofouling from the inside walls of piping and other enclosed structures. The pulsed acoustic wave successively removes accumulated deposits as the arc-discharge source is moved down the tube by an operator. We describe a program developing a compact, portable tube-cleaning system for use in utility and US Navy scheduled plant maintenance. Results from a laboratory demonstration with typical heat-exchanger tubing taken from a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant are presented. In addition results from a field experiment conducted at the US Navy Marine Corrosion Test Facility, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, are presented that demonstrated significant (order of magnitude) reduction in biofouling associated with pulsed acoustic shock wave treatment at intensities below the cavitation threshold.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80887772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
D. Price, D. Swallom, V. Goldfarb, J. S. Gibbs, I. Sadovnik, V. Zeigarnik, N. L. Aitov, A. G. Buzlov, I. Dikhter, P. V. Il’ichev, A. D. Iserov, E. Ivanov, A.V. Kulevtsov, I.G. Kuryachii, V. Novikov, V. Okunev, A.N. Revtov, V. Rickman, A. G. Blokh, A. V. Pisakin, P. N. Egorushkin, B. G. Tkachenko, Y. P. Babakov, R.K. Kuzmin, E.B. Sirtsov, A.K. Yanitskii, E. F. Zhegrov, V. A. Parkhomenko, A. Olson, R.E. Anderson, M. Fedun, G. R. Hill
{"title":"PAMIR-3U magnetohydrodynamic generator results","authors":"D. Price, D. Swallom, V. Goldfarb, J. S. Gibbs, I. Sadovnik, V. Zeigarnik, N. L. Aitov, A. G. Buzlov, I. Dikhter, P. V. Il’ichev, A. D. Iserov, E. Ivanov, A.V. Kulevtsov, I.G. Kuryachii, V. Novikov, V. Okunev, A.N. Revtov, V. Rickman, A. G. Blokh, A. V. Pisakin, P. N. Egorushkin, B. G. Tkachenko, Y. P. Babakov, R.K. Kuzmin, E.B. Sirtsov, A.K. Yanitskii, E. F. Zhegrov, V. A. Parkhomenko, A. Olson, R.E. Anderson, M. Fedun, G. R. Hill","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.599810","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.599810","url":null,"abstract":"The Air Force's Phillips Laboratory has acquired a high power magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator for possible use with advanced weapons applications. This MHD generator is a PAMIR-3U, a modified Russian-built MHD generator that uses a modified rocket fuel to produce a DC electrical pulse of 100 MJ. The PAMIR-3U generator produces tens of kA at 800 V for an optimized load of (20/spl plusmn/5) m/spl Omega/. A review of the MHD generator design and results of the generator acceptance testing is presented. The PAMIR-3U generator was constructed by the Institute of High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IVTAN) and delivered to the Air Force's Phillips Laboratory under contract with Textron Defense Systems (TDS) of Everett MA.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78759327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pulsed power electron and ion beams diagnostics based on simultaneous detection of acoustic longitudinal and flexural waves","authors":"A. Bardenstein, V. Bykov, D. Vaisburd","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596511","url":null,"abstract":"A method and technique for measuring the pulsed power electron and ion beam energy density (W in J/m/sup 2/) absorbed by a target as well as the main elastic constants of material have been proposed and realized. The method developed is based on the authors' laser-interferometric and theoretical investigations of the space-time characteristics and amplitudes of thermoacoustic waves excited by pulsed power electron beams in various solids: metals; alloys; semiconductors; amorphous and crystalline dielectrics; and composites. Experimental conditions under which compression-expansion pulse of the longitudinal wave and flexural oscillations of a sample can be observed simultaneously, have been found. As the experiments have shown, the amplitude of thermoelastic flexural wave as well as the amplitude of longitudinal pulse is proportional to W. The authors reconstruct the profile of beam dose absorbed by material and determine W using available standard samples with known elastic constants and Gruneisen's parameter and the interferometry data on longitudinal and flexural thermoacoustic waves.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76014637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Z. Zeng, J. C. Thomaz, G. Bauville, A. Delmas, M. Legentil, F. Bendiab, C. Postel, V. Puech
{"title":"Characterization of a pseudospark switch triggered by a corona-plasma electrode","authors":"Z. Zeng, J. C. Thomaz, G. Bauville, A. Delmas, M. Legentil, F. Bendiab, C. Postel, V. Puech","doi":"10.1109/PPC.1995.596519","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/PPC.1995.596519","url":null,"abstract":"A new pseudospark triggering technique using a corona-plasma electrode to feed electrons into one of the pseudospark hollow electrodes is described. When a fast rising voltage pulse is applied to the corona-plasma electrode, electrons are emitted at the gas-dielectric-grid interface by field emission. These initial electrons are used to trigger a pseudospark switch in a variety of configurations. Investigations of the high repetition rate possibilities of this pseudospark triggering technique have been performed up to a repetition rate frequency of 1 kHz. During this investigation, a cumulative number of shots higher than 10/sup 8/ has been achieved. Thus, the corona-plasma trigger appears as a low cost, simple, efficient and reliable technique for the development of long life, high PRF pseudospark switches.","PeriodicalId":11163,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. Tenth IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76040816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}