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

Technical Report · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1395749· OSTI ID:1395749

Wisher, Matthew Louis ^[1]; Johns, Owen M. ^[1]; Breden, Eric Wayne ^[1]; Calhoun, Jacob Daniel ^[1]; Gruner, Frederick Rusticus ^[2]; Hohlfelder, Robert James ^[1]; Mulville, Thomas D. ^[1]; Muron, David J. ^[1]; Stoltzfus, Brian S. ^[1]; Stygar, William A. ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Kinetech LLC, Cedar Crest, NM (United States)

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.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 1395749
• Report Number(s): SAND-2017-10300; 657236
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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