An overview of the mechanical design of the Atlas pulsed power machine

Abstract

Atlas is a pulsed-power facility being designed at Los Alamos National Laboratory to perform high-energy density experiments in support of Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship and basic research programs. Atlas will consist of 24 individual maintenance units, each consisting of 4 240-kV Marx units. Maintenance units are contained in large oil tanks arrayed in a circle about a central target chamber. Total stored energy of the capacitor bank will be 23 MJ. Maintenance units will discharge through an output shorting switch into a vertical tri-plate transmission line, and from there into a transition area/collector inside a large vacuum chamber. An overview of mechanical design aspects of the Atlas machine is presented. These include maintenance unit design and design of the tri-plate transmission line and transition region. Findings from fabrication and testing of prototype systems are discussed.