Modeling of an Inductive Adder Kicker Pulser for Darht-II

TL;DR

This paper presents the design, modeling, and testing of a solid-state inductive adder kicker pulser for the DARHT-2 accelerator, utilizing MOSFETs and Metglas cores to achieve high current switching.

Contribution

It introduces a novel all solid-state kicker pulser design with a lumped element model for performance optimization and experimental validation.

Findings

Successful fabrication of the pulser prototype

Model predictions align with experimental data

Optimized stalk geometries improve performance

Abstract

An all solid-state kicker pulser for a high current induction accelerator (the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facility DARHT-2) has been designed and fabricated. This kicker pulser uses multiple solid state modulators stacked in an inductive-adder configuration. Each modulator is comprised of multiple metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) which quickly switch the energy storage capacitors across a magnetic induction core. Metglas is used as the core material to minimize loss. Voltage from each modulator is inductively added by a voltage summing stalk and delivered to a 50 ohm output cable. A lumped element circuit model of the inductive adder has been developed to optimize the performance of the pulser. Results for several stalk geometries will be compared with experimental data.