Development of a repetitive 1-MV, 22-kJ Marx generator

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6287635

O'Malley, M W; Buttram, M T

A 220-kW Marx generator has been designed, built, and tested. It was developed to drive several different pulse power experimental devices requiring repetitive pulses at voltages to 1 MV and energies to 22 kJ per pulse. Experiments are planned that will explore dielectric performance under repetitive stress, cold cathode diode operation, and repetitive switching with saturable inductors at moderate peak power and voltage. A Marx generator was chosen because it has the versatility to drive such a variety of loads. The Marx generator system is made of 16 inductively isolated capacitor stages resistively charged to a maximum of 62.5 kV per capacitor and eight gas dynamic spark gaps. The charging source is a 2-MW dc bipolar power supply. The gas purging system is capable of supplying 3500 SCFH of air at the required pressure. The first two spark gaps of the Marx generator are triggered with a grounded grid thyratron pulser through a 1:10 step-up transformer with an output peaking gap as an (unused) option. At the maximum output (1 MV, 22 kJ) a repetition rate of 10 Hz is possible. This paper will review some of the development work done on rep rated Marx generators as well as explain the present Marx generator configuration and associated hardware systems.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6287635
• Report Number(s): SAND-87-0279C; CONF-870656-9; ON: DE87011286
• Resource Relation: Conference: 6. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers pulsed power conference, Arlington, VA, USA, 29 Jun 1987; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
MARX GENERATORS
DESIGN
TESTING
HIGH-VOLTAGE PULSE GENERATORS
PULSE CIRCUITS
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FUNCTION GENERATORS
POWER SUPPLIES
PULSE GENERATORS
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Energy Storage