Fast discharge energy storage development for advanced X-ray simulators

Abstract

Design studies have been completed to investigate the impact of improvements in fast energy storage systems on the designs of: larger future simulators (such as a 15-MA plasma radiation source (PRS) simulator), simulator upgrades of operational machines (such as Double-EAGLE), and for very compact, smaller simulators. The fast energy storage system that has been investigated and is presently under development is a fast Marx generator (FMG) with inductance capacitance (LC) 1/2=200 ns and LC 1/2=300 ns, depending on the capacitance per stage. This new fast Marx energy storage system uses newly developed, low-inductance rail switches and low-inductance capacitors. These components are configured in a low-inductance FMG stage and then stacked in series to form a unit for the voltage required and a number of units in parallel for the required system inductance and stored energy. A four-stage fast Marx prototype has been demonstrated with a total of 60-kJ energy stored and an output voltage of 680 kV. This new FMG technology will provide the capability to build X-ray machines in a significantly more compact configuration. The new FMG technology minimizes or eliminates the need for storing the energy in a large water transfer capacitor. A design sketch of a 15-MA PRS machine driven by a fast Marx will be presented. This generator would consist of 48 eight-stage FMG units and would drive the PRS directly without further pulse compression. We will also present the concept of a high voltage (2-3 MV), compact X-ray machine that uses a nine-stage fast Marx module to directly charge a vacuum inductive store. A plasma opening switch (POS) is used to switch the inductive store and deliver the electron beam to the load.