Electronic Peakers

A reliable system has been designed and built for the variable phase generation of pulses for the firing of ignitrons. These ignitrons rectify the ac output of a motor generator set for application of dc power to the main magnets of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It is now possible to shift the phase of the ignitron firing so that the current in the main magnets either increases in a linear manner (rectify mode), decreases in a linear manner (invert mode), or stays constant at any desired level (flat-top mode). In addition time interval pulses can be applied to the electronic peakers so that the main magnet current can be made to be any combination of the rectify, flat-top and invert modes. The electronic peakers have been in operation for a little over a year without a single failure.