Development of 2.4 MJ capacitor bank for electro thermal propulsion technology

A pulsed power supply of 2.4 MJ capacitor bank has been developed to make investigation into electric gun technology. It is made up of eight paralleled 300 kJ modules, and can supply various shapes of high current pulse by controlling charging voltage, inductance, capacitance, and firing time of each module. The 300 kJ module has been designed and fabricated for maximum operating voltage of 22 kV, peak current of 150 kA, and pulse duration of 1 msec. The equivalent circuit of the module was determined, and the experiments of the modules were done. The characteristics of the module were analyzed more deeply through circuit simulation. All the modules showed good performance under the condition of charging voltage of 22 kV, inductance of 20 /spl mu/H, and shorted load. The experiments of the paralleled modules with inductance of 20 /spl mu/H and load resistance of 100 m/spl Omega/ were performed, where the modules were discharged simultaneously and/or sequentially. The results of the experiments were analyzed. The 2.4 MJ capacitor bank is now used as the pulsed power supply for the ETC (electro thermal chemical) gun research.