Pulse power system characterization of the plasma interactions with propellants experiment (PIPE) electrothermal plasma gun

Author

Dale, Gregory E. ; Bourham, Mohamed A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Nucl. Eng., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA

Volume

30

Issue

5

fYear

2002

fDate

10/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1852

Lastpage

1857

Abstract

The plasma interactions with propellants experiment (PIPE) facility is designed for the study of materials and propellants exposed to a pulsed, high-heat flux plasma produced with an electrothermal plasma gun. PIPE is powered by a single 340-μF capacitor with a maximum charging voltage of 10 kV, for a maximum discharge energy of 17 kJ. This paper describes discharge voltage and current measurements made with a high-frequency compensated voltage divider and a Pearson coil. For these experiments, the gun was operated in air at 2 torr at discharge energies between 1.1-8.1 kJ. The maximum current ranged between 10-45 kA. The maximum gun power ranged between 30-160 MW. Typical discharge durations were on the order of 100 μs.

Keywords

discharges (electric); electrothermal launchers; plasma density; plasma guns; plasma transport processes; pulsed power technology; 1.1 to 8 kJ; 10 kV; 10 to 45 kA; 100 mus; 17 kJ; 2 torr; 30 to 160 MW; 340 muF; PIPE facility; Pearson coil; air; capacitor; discharge current measurements; discharge durations; discharge energies; discharge voltage measurements; electrothermal plasma gun; high-frequency compensated voltage divider; maximum charging voltage; maximum current; maximum discharge energy; maximum gun power; plasma interactions with propellants experiment; plasma resistance measurement; pulse power system characterization; pulsed high-heat flux plasma production; Capacitors; Electrothermal launching; Plasma applications; Plasma chemistry; Plasma diagnostics; Plasma materials processing; Plasma measurements; Plasma sources; Propellants; Pulse power systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2002.805333

Filename

1178219