Airborne/Spaceborne Pulsed Power Source
Abstract
Mission Research Corporation (MRC) has completed a design study for a compact lightweight pulsed power source for airborne and spaceborne applications. Two designs were developed during the contract. Both design were constrained to-500 kV output pluses, 10 Hz repetition rates, and 2 ft. diameters. The designs utilized high voltage pulse-forming networks and (PFN) composed of liquid capacitors and air-core inductors. Dual resonance spiral strip transformers were incorporated into the designs for charging the PFNs from lower voltage capacitor banks. A mixture of water and ethylene glycol was used in the capacitor designs in order that the operating temperatures (-45 C to + 110 C) of the designs could be extended beyond that of pure water. A pulser built from the final design would be capable of nominally producing -500 kV, 100 ns, 10 ohms pulses (i.e., 3 kJ). Such a pulser would be 10.9 ft. long (without prime power, power conditioning, and load) and would weigh 1300 lbs (with power conditioning but without prime power and load). The design has the unique advantage of being mechanically 'tunable' to any desired pulse length (100 ns to 500 ns) or impedance (10 ohms to 50 ohms) as long as the output energy of the pulser is not changed from 3 kJ.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA211762
Entities
People
- George Z. Hutcheson