Component design, development, and testing of an inductive voltage adder (IVA) system for Jupiter
Jupiter is a proposed 15-20 MJ laboratory X-ray source. It would store /spl sim/100 MJ in the Marx generators and deliver /spl sim/500 TW to drive high power z-pinch implosions. The pulsed power requirements for Jupiter were evaluated by a national review panel which concluded that the modular IVA technology as used in HERMES III is capable of meeting these requirements. Modularity of construction permits design verification with less than a full size system and offers the flexibility to meet changing requirements. A program to validate this approach at the required power levels has begun with the construction and testing of components that will comprise a full scale IVA generator module. The IVA module will provide a nominal 10 MV, 1.8 MA, 100 ns FWHM output pulse and will consist of four submodules. Each submodule is composed of a Marx generator, two intermediate energy storage capacitors (ISCs) four pulse forming lines (PFLs), one voltage adder cavity (VAC), plus other associated switches and hardware. A conceptual design for this IVA module has been completed. Initial designs for the ISC, PFL, and their gas switches are also complete and hardware has been procured. Testing of these components is underway at Sandia National Laboratories. Discussions of these designs and results of tests are presented in this paper.
A high-voltage multistage laser-triggered gas switch
This paper describes the development and testing of an SF/sub 6/-insulated, multistage laser-triggered gas switch for use in the Hermes-III accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories. Twenty of these switches are used in Hermes III to transfer energy from intermediate energy storage water-dielectric capacitors to the pulse-forming lines (PFLs) and to provide the overall synchronization of the accelerator. The gas switches operate in an oil environment, are charged to a peak voltage between 2.2 MV and 2.4 MV in approx.1 ..mu..s, and are laser triggered with a root-mean-square (rms) jitter equal to or less than 2 ns. Both the triggered and untriggered performance of the switch have been investigated. A summary of the development tests are presented together with initial results from Hermes III.
Alignment of the Hermes-III Magnetically Insulated Transmission Line
Abstract : Hermes-III is a 20-MV machine which contains an 18.7- m-long magnetically insulated transmission line (MITL). The cylindrical MITL cathode is cantilevered from one end and must be accurately aligned within the anode. This paper describes the mechanical design for accomplishing this alignment.