SINAPS 2000: An 1MJ, 2 MA inductive store/opening switches generator

In order to build an 1 MJ, 2 MA, 1 /spl mu/s pulsed power generator based on the use of inductive storage and plasma opening switches (POS), an R&D program was carried out at CEA-CESTA. This paper presents the results obtained with three mock-ups. Some critical points of this type of generators were studied with few components (16 capacitors and 8 switches). The first configuration (360 kV, 900 kA on a short circuit, 0.8 /spl mu/s) consisted of 4 Marx generators with two-stage capacitor banks to test the switches and evaluate the self-inductance of one stage. The second configuration (180 kV, 1.4 MA on a short circuit, 1.4 /spl mu/s) consisted of a capacitor bank using 8 Marx generators of one stage to study parallel Marx generator triggering. The authors also tested a POS stage on this experimental set-up. In the third configuration (720 kV, 400 kA), the capacitor bank was made of 2 Marx generators of 4 stages in order to study the voltage strength of the circuit components. In conclusion, the authors present the design and the progress in the mounting of the whole generator.