Design and implementation of a flux compression generator nonexplosive test bed for electroexplosive fuses

Abstract

Helical flux compression generators (HFCGs) of a 50mm form factor have been shown to produce output energies on the order of ten times the seeded value and a typical deposited energy of 3kJ into a 3μH inductor. By utilizing an electroexplosive fuse, a large dI∕dt into a coupled load is possible. Our previous work with a nonoptimized fuse has produced ∼100kV into a 15Ω load, which leads into a regime relevant for high power microwave systems. It is expected that ∼300kV can be achieved with the present two-stage HFCG driving an inductive storage system with electroexploding fuse. In order to optimize the electroexplosive wire fuse, we have constructed a nonexplosive test bed which simulates the HFCG output with high accuracy. We have designed and implemented a capacitor based, magnetic switching scheme to generate the near exponential rise of the HFCG. The varying inductance approach utilizes four stages of inductance change and is based upon a piecewise linear regression model of the HFCG wave form. The nonexplosive test bed will provide a more efficient method of component testing and has demonstrated positive initial fuse results. By utilizing the nonexplosive test bed, we hope to reduce the physical size of the inductive energy storage system and fuse substantially.