Electro-explosive fuse optimization for FCG current sources

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2007-12

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Abstract

As high power microwave (HPM) systems become more prevalent in defense technology, the need arises to make compact systems capable of delivering energy with the same order of magnitude as a large scale system. Various Pulsed power systems have been designed with compact flux compression generators (FCGs) which have very large energy densities to provide the initial current amplification. HPM systems require large voltages, not large currents; therefore a power conditioning system capable of transforming large currents from the FCG to large voltages, to drive the HPM source, is required. This can be done with an FCG driving an inductive energy storage system (IESS) with an electro-explosive fuse (EEF) in the current path. The interruption of current by the fuse will cause a large voltage spike that is in the right regime for high power microwaves. Often the electro-explosive fuse can be the largest component in the system; therefore, the need for optimization arises to reduce the size of the fuse without affecting the voltage multiplication of the fuse. This thesis will examine various parameters that control the operation of the fuse to find the maximum voltage multiplication possible while reducing the overall fuse size. Optimization of the individual parameters of the fuse including quenching media, fuse material, fuse strand length, and fuse shape will lead to complete optimization of the fuse. The end result will be a compact optimized electro-explosive fuse to be implemented in an FCG driven high power microwave system.

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