Preliminary Performance Results of a High-Current Cs-Ba Tacitron in a Simple Inverter

Abstract

A tacitron is a gas-discharge triode that is designed to be completely grid-controlled. Demountable cesium-barium (Cs-Ba) tacitrons have exhibited very low forward voltage drops in the range of a few volts, hold-off voltages greater than 200 V, and average conduction current densities greater than 10 A/cm2. These characteristics yield an average power switching density on the order of 1000 W/cm2 in excess of 95% peak switching efficiency. This parameter regime places the Cs-Ba tacitron in the range of conventional solid-state devices, with the advantage that the tacitron should reliably operate in extremes of temperature and radiation. The intent of this investigation is to determine the feasibility of constructing a 6 kW continuous power inverter unit with a pair of high-current tacitrons.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA638427

Entities

People

  • D. B. Morris
  • G. B. Masten
  • I. N. Djachiachvili
  • J. M. Gahl

Organizations

  • University of New Mexico

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accumulators
  • Acquisition
  • Autoignition
  • Base Pressure
  • Circuits
  • Extinguishing
  • Frequency
  • Ignition
  • Ignition Lag
  • Inverter Circuits
  • Inverters
  • Measurement
  • New Mexico
  • Power
  • Switching
  • Trigger Circuits
  • Vapor Pressure

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Electronics Engineering