An Overview of the Charger-1 Pulsed Power Facility

Digest of Technical Papers. 11th IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference (Cat. No.97CH36127)

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High current intense electron beams were investigated earlier for Flash X-rays and nuclear electromagnetic pulse generation. Starting with moderate parameters of 200 kV, 6 kA, 60 ns pulsed electron beam source from a system named Kilo Ampere Linear Injector (KALI-75) our latest development is KALI-30 GW system rated for 1 MV, 30 kA, 80 ns. First repetitive pulse LINAC without spark gap switching was developed as Linear Induction Accelerator (LIA-200) for technology demonstrations at 100 Hz. Also a repetitive Marx generator coupled reflex triode system to operate at 10 Hz. Next to this series of development LIA-400 has been developed to a capacity of 400 kV, 4 kA, 100 ns, 300 Hz. To make these pulse power systems applicable for big LINAC projects like nToF studies or ADS program, a high current electron gun has also been developed to give 100 A, 2 ns,10 Hz pulses.

The race to the Moon dominated human space ight during the 1960s and culminated in Project Apollo, which placed 12 men on the lunar surface. Unbeknownst to the public at that time, several U.S. government agencies sponsored another project that could have conceivably placed large bases on the moon and eventually sent crewed expeditions to Mars and the outer planets within the same period of time as Apollo, and for approximately the same cost. The project, code-named Orion, featured an extraordinary propulsion method known as nuclear pulse propulsion. First conceived at the dawn of the space age, the concept was as radical then as it is now. However, its feasibility was never dismissed on purely technical grounds. In fact, many of the scientists and engineers who came into contact with the program over its seven-year lifetime became convinced of its viability. The political and nontechnical issues that nally sealed the program's fate would certainly make the original Orion unacceptable by today's standards. However, new technologies and ideas developed since then could mitigate some of the major issues, and make nuclear pulse propulsion less unreasonable to consider for future human exploration, at least beyond Mars orbit. These new approaches are presented, following a discussion of the technological rationale for nuclear pulse propulsion and a general history of the concept.

2005 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, 2005

Like many industrial organizations, the US Navy is moving away from an era of hydraulic, pneumatic and mechanical devices to an era dominated by electromechanical devices and all-electric controls. The Navy is also moving to replace many traditional weapon systems (all of which are chemical and thermodynamic in nature) with directed energy and electric weapons. For these applications there are few, if any, analogies to industrial applications. Some of the electromechanical devices, such as the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) and all the electric weapons under development, such as the electromagnetic (EM) railgun and the high-energy laser, require some form of pulsed power and/or pulse forming network. The stored energy necessary to operate these devices may range from tens of kilojoules to several gigajoules, and their instantaneous power may exceed 20 gigawatts. This paper will discuss the options available to provide these energy and power levels and will discuss the research and engineering challenges that need to be overcome for successful operation and fielding.

AIP Conference …, 2002

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2014

Pulsed power applications are widespread, ranging from microscopic devices up to systems that are major installations and cost many millions of dollars. This paper describes some of the approaches used for the larger systems that have been built and discusses their engineering challenges. Basic energy storage approaches include electrostatic (capacitors), magnetic (inductors), inertial (flywheels), electrochemical (batteries), and fuel or explosives. Systems based on these approaches each have their own requirements and challenges but also have many common components. An example of one potential future largescale opportunity-launch to space-is given and the need to develop more competitive economic approaches is discussed.

38th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 2002

Nuclear Technology - Fusion, 1983

The pulsed power requirements for inertial confinement fusion reactors are defined for ion beam and laser drivers. Several megajoule beams with 100's of terrawatt peak powers must be delivered to the reactor chamber 1-10 times per second. Ion beam drivers are relatively efficient requiring less energy storage in the pulsed power system but more time compression in the power flow chain than gas lasers. These high peak powers imply very large numbers of components for conventional pulse power systems. A new design that significantly reduces the number of components is presented. To ensure that an ICF power reactor is economical, the recirculated power will be limited to approximately 10% of the total that is generated. Assuming a 40% thermal-electrical conversion efficiency, this implies that T] Q must be greater than 25 where T] is the driver efficiency and Q is the energy gain of the fusion reaction.** The efficiencies of both types of ion beam systems are estimated to be 20-25% and excimer laser efficiency is estimated to be 3-6%. Therefore, the gains must be at least 100-125 for ion beam drivers and 420-830 for the KrF laser.

2001

Successful development of space fission systems will require an extensive program of affordable and realistic testing. In addition to tests related to design/development of the fission system, realistic testing of the actual flight unit must also be performed. Testing can be divided into two categories, non-nuclear tests and nuclear tests. Full power nuclear tests of space fission systems are expensive, time consuming, and of limited use, even in the best of programmatic environments. If the system is designed to operate within established radiation damage and fuel burn up limits while simultaneously being designed to allow close simulation of heat from fission using resistance heaters, high confidence in fission system performance and lifetime can be attained through a series of non-nuclear tests. Non-nuclear tests are affordable and timely, and the cause of component and system failures can be quickly and accurately identified, MSFC is leading a Safe Affordable Fission Engine (SAFE) test series whose ultimate goal is the demonstration of a 300 kW flight configuration system using non-nuclear testing. This test series is carried out in collaboration with other NASA centers, other government agencies, industry, and universities. If SAFE-related nuclear tests are desired, they will have a high probability of success and can be performed at existing nuclear facilities. The paper describes the SAFE non-nuclear test series, which includes test article descriptions, test results and conclusions, and future test plans. .

AIP Conference Proceedings, 2003

Successful development of space fission systems requires an extensive program of affordable and realistic testing. In addition to tests related to desigddevelopment of the fission system, realistic testing of the actual flight unit must also be performed. If the system is designed to operate within established radiation damage and fuel burn up limits while simultaneously being designed to allow close simulation of heat from fission using resistance heaters, high confidence in fission system performance and lifetime can be attained through non-nuclear testing. Through demonstration of systems concepts (designed by DOE National Laboratories) in relevant environments, this philosophy has been demonstrated through hardware testing in the High Power Propulsion Thermal Simulator (HPPTS). The HPPTS is designed to enable very realistic non-nuclear testing of space fission systems. Ongoing research at the HPPTS is geared towards facilitating research, development, system integration, and system utilization via cooperative efforts with DOE labs, industry, universities, and other NASA centers. Through hardware based design and testing, the HPPTS investigates High Power Electric Propulsion (HPEP) component, subsystem, and integrated system design and performance.