Final design of the control and auxiliary systems for the Balcones 60 MJ homopolar pulse power supply

The Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin (CEM-UT) has completed the final design of a 60 megajoule (MJ) laboratory pulsed-power facility. Six identical 10-MJ homopolar generators are utilized in various series and/or parallel configurations to provide maximum output current and voltage ratings ranging from 1.5 MA at 660 V DC to 9.0 MA at 110 V DC. An overview of the guidelines and constraints governing the final design of this versatile system are presented. Topics include the homopolar generator terminal voltage matching via rotor speed and magnetic field control, control and hardware features, power supply configurations and output terminal ratings, failsafe fault protection, computer automated measurement and control (CAMAC) data recording system, radio frequency and electromagnetic interference (RFI/EMI) shielding considerations, signal processing, as well as the mechanical and electrical subsystems required for generator operation and protection.