Nonmedical application of computed tomography to power capacitor quality assesment

Conference · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1981 · IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5569422

Kruger, R P

Present research and development efforts at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory require the design and use of high-efficiency rapid-discharge energy storage capacitors for laser isotope separation and plasma physics programs. In these applications, capacitors are subjected to electrical, mechanical, thermal, and other environmental stresses. These stresses cause the dielectric constant to change due to gasification from arcing at nonsoldering connections, which produce a chemical reduction of the dielectric material. This effectively limits the lifetime of the capacitor. The programs mentioned above require capacitors with a multikilohertz frequency response at a current of tens of kiloamperes and a voltage of at least 100 kV. The lifetime of such capacitors should exceed 10/sup 10/ charge/discharge cycles. Such capacitors do not presently exist. The exploration of new capacitor designs will require the use of both electrical functional tests and tests that show the changes in internal physical structure as the capacitor is repeatedly stressed by the charge/discharge cycle. The integration of electrical and structural tests throughout the life cycle of a candidate capacitor makes it imperative that the structural integrity tests be nondestructive. Computed tomography (CT) makes this integration possible. The work reported here is the result of a pilot project designed to show the potential use of CT for this application. This work includes visualization of material defects using both a layered sequence of conventional tomographic slices and orthogonal multiangular pseudoradiographs generated from these slices.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
• OSTI ID: 5569422
• Report Number(s): CONF-801111-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.; (United States) Journal Volume: NS-28:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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