A. Birrell, P. G. Carpenter, G. Cooper, R. Davitt, R. Edwards, T. Goldsack, J. Mclean, M. Sinclair
{"title":"New developments in pulsed power technology and associated electron beam transport mechanisms at the United Kingdom Atomic Weapons Establishment","authors":"A. Birrell, P. G. Carpenter, G. Cooper, R. Davitt, R. Edwards, T. Goldsack, J. Mclean, M. Sinclair","doi":"10.1049/IC:20000290","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The Pulsed Power Group at AWE is interested in the generation of small, intense, multi-megavolt X-ray sources for radiographic applications. One of them, E Minor, is used for research into electron beam transport and focusing studies. E Minor consists of three main sections: (1) a Marx generator incorporating 84 0.7 /spl mu/F capacitors that are slowly charged in parallel to 50 kV and then quickly switched and discharged through a series configuration via triggered spark gaps producing an output voltage of 4.2 MV; (2) this output voltage in turn pulse charges a Blumlein pulse forming line (PFL). The Blumlein PFL consists of three coaxial cylinders, 3.2 m, 2.0 m and 1.0 m in diameter. The output of the PFL is a 40 ns long 5.3 MV electrical pulse driving 38 kA into a typical electron beam load; and (3) the X-ray tube has sixteen, 92 mm thick, Lucite sections angled at 45 degrees to the electric field which, with the spacer rings, is 1.55 m long and 1.2 m in diameter. The vacuum housing acts as the outer cylinder of a magnetically insulated coaxial transmission line (MITL). The central conductor of this MITL supports the cathode stalk, and forms a line having an impedance of 190 ohms.","PeriodicalId":11209,"journal":{"name":"Digest of Technical Papers. 12th IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference. (Cat. No.99CH36358)","volume":"54 1","pages":"1003-1006 vol.2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1999-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Digest of Technical Papers. 12th IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference. (Cat. No.99CH36358)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1049/IC:20000290","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The Pulsed Power Group at AWE is interested in the generation of small, intense, multi-megavolt X-ray sources for radiographic applications. One of them, E Minor, is used for research into electron beam transport and focusing studies. E Minor consists of three main sections: (1) a Marx generator incorporating 84 0.7 /spl mu/F capacitors that are slowly charged in parallel to 50 kV and then quickly switched and discharged through a series configuration via triggered spark gaps producing an output voltage of 4.2 MV; (2) this output voltage in turn pulse charges a Blumlein pulse forming line (PFL). The Blumlein PFL consists of three coaxial cylinders, 3.2 m, 2.0 m and 1.0 m in diameter. The output of the PFL is a 40 ns long 5.3 MV electrical pulse driving 38 kA into a typical electron beam load; and (3) the X-ray tube has sixteen, 92 mm thick, Lucite sections angled at 45 degrees to the electric field which, with the spacer rings, is 1.55 m long and 1.2 m in diameter. The vacuum housing acts as the outer cylinder of a magnetically insulated coaxial transmission line (MITL). The central conductor of this MITL supports the cathode stalk, and forms a line having an impedance of 190 ohms.