2017 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference

Field-Distortion Air-Insulated Switches for Next-Generation Pulsed-Power Accelerators

19 Jun 2017, 13:30

1h 30m

Hall 4 / Cambridge (Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel)

Board: 33

Poster Pulsed Power Physics and Technology, Components and HV Insulation Poster session I - Pulsed Power Physics and Technology, Components and HV Insulation

Speaker

Matthew Wisher (Sandia National Laboratories)

Description

We have developed two advanced designs of a field-distortion air-insulated spark-gap switch that reduce the size of a linear-transformer-driver (LTD) brick. Both designs operate at 200 kV and a peak current of ~50 kA. At these parameters, both achieve a jitter of less than 2 ns and a prefire rate of ~0.1% over 5000 shots. We have reduced the number of switch parts and assembly steps, which has resulted in a more uniform, design-driven assembly process. We will characterize the performance of tungsten-copper and graphite electrodes, and two different electrode geometries. The new switch designs will substantially improve the electrical and operational performance of next-generation pulsed-power accelerators.