Compact Toroid Translation with Relevance to Plasma Flow Switching

Abstract

Numerous experiments involving the generation and translation of compact toroid magnetized plasmas in straight and conical compression geometries have been performed at the Phillips Laboratory. The SHIVA STAR fast capacitor bank (1300 muF, 3 nH, 30 kV- 120 kV) has been used, with additional series inductance (~50 nH), to deliver multi-megampere currents to the CT plasmas and drive them through coaxial vacuum electrode gaps of approximately 1 meter length. Traditional B-dot probes in the gap have provided spatially localized time histories of both the driving toroidal, and CT internal poloidal and toroidal, magnetic fields. From these measurements we have been able to assess the applicability of such translating plasmas as long-conduction-time plasma flow switches, and to design an experimental demonstration of their effectiveness in conjunction with a pulsed-gas dense-plasma-focus (DPF) load. In this paper we summarize relevant results from our previous experiments and present design information and 21/2-D MHD supporting calculations for a CT-switched DPF demonstration experiment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA639762

Entities

People

  • D. E. Lileikis
  • G. F. Kiuttu
  • J. H. Degnan
  • K. W. Ware

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Armatures
  • Compression
  • Energy
  • Energy Storage
  • Energy Systems
  • Generators
  • Geometry
  • Information Operations
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Materials
  • Plasma Opening Switches
  • Power
  • Pulsed Power
  • Simulations
  • Switching
  • Translations

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.