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Development of a 3 MV pulse transformer

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6231880· OSTI ID:6231880

A 3 MV transformer designed for charging high voltage pulse forming transmission lines is described. The transformer is an air core spiral strip design which incorporates ring cage shielding to control edge breakdown in the secondary winding. The physical features of the transformer are described along with its electrical characteristics and the operational results. Air core transformers are an attractive alternative to Marx generators for charging high voltage pulse forming transmission lines (PFL) such as those used with high power electron or ion beam accelerators. Some of the advantages of transformer systems include simplicity, compactness, high reliability, reasonable cost and high energy transfer efficiency. The transformer was designed to demonstrate these features. The primary objective, however, was to establish the feasibility of multimegavolt operation. It was successfully tested to 2.2 MV in an off-resonance, single swing charging mode and to 3 MV in a dual-resonance charging mode. The energy transfer efficiencies for the two modes of operation were 58 and 91%, respectively. A 100 kV, 5 kJ capacitor bank was used to power the transformer for all experiments.

Research Organization:
Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
EY-76-C-04-0789
OSTI ID:
6231880
Report Number(s):
SAND-79-0813
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English