The electrical energy conversion in the z-pinch implosion on the “QIANG GUANG I” facility

In the processes of implosion of argon gas-puff and tungsten wire-array z-pinches on the “QIANG GUANG I” facility, the delivered electrical energy, inductance and relevant stored energy, and the effective work done by the Lorentz force, as well as the effects of the load type and its parameters on them are investigated by making use of measured current and voltage. The effective work becomes largest when using a wire-array of diameter 8mm with a fixed wire number of 32. For a given array diameter, for a load with more wires, the effective work becomes larger. A zero-D model was used to calculate optimum masses per unit length for wire array loads on the “QIANG GUANG I” facility on 1.6MA current level. The calculated results show that tungsten wire arrays with 8mm diameter should be a more suitable load for this generator. It is consistent with the analyzed results based on electromagnetic energy conversion, as well as with measured results of x-ray yield in wire array z-pinches on this facility.