Mechanical Design and Fabrication of a New RF Power Amplifier for LANSCE
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
A Full-scale prototype of a new 201.25 MHz RF Final Power Amplifier (FPA) for Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) has been designed, fabricated, assembled and installed in the test facility. This prototype was successfully tested and met the physics and electronics design criteria. The team faced design and manufacturing challenges, having a goal to produce 2 MW peak power at 13% duty factor, at the elevation of over 2 km in Los Alamos. The mechanical design of the final power amplifier was built around a Thales TH628 Diacrode{sup R}, a state-of-art tetrode power tube. The main structure includes Input circuit, Output circuit, Grid decoupling circuit, Output coupler, Tuning pistons, and a cooling system. Many types of material were utilized to make this new RF amplifier. The fabrication processes of the key components were completed in the Prototype Fabrication Division shop at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The critical plating procedures were achieved by private industry. The FPA mass is nearly 600 kg and installed in a beam structural support stand. In this paper, we summarize the FPA design basis and fabrication, plating, and assembly process steps with necessary lifting and handling fixtures. In addition, to ensure the quality of the FPA support structure a finite element analysis with seismic design forces has also been carried out.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- IEEE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1011052
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-11-10152
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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