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This Defense Intelligence Agency reference document, dated 10 March 2010, covers inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion. It was produced in FY 2009 under the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) program. The report focuses on work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and reviews IEC basics, experiments, theory and applications such as neutron sources, explosives detection and space propulsion. It concludes by proposing a breakeven experiment for p-11B fusion that uses a hydrogen plasma simulation.
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'1"1!11'- l!ll"l"ll!lllile lal!i! 8Hlo'f bank discharges. The pulse shaper is a tapped inductive line with each tap terminated by a pulse-forming network (PFN). Each tap performs a filtering function for a discrete Fourier function or band of frequencies, which results in a smoother, and more uniform pulse rise and fall, and also provides more constant load impedance matching, as the IEC tube has high input impedance. This aids in the forward coupling of energy into the IEC by minimizing backward or reflected standing waves generated by the dynamic impedance discontinuity presented by the spark gap and the cathode to anode circuit path. The PFN, in effect, serves as a pulsed coupled transformer with a low input impedance and a high output impedance to drive the IEC tube. Components for the PFN are off-the-shelf and commercially available. The spark gap trigger is activated by an IGBT (isolated fate bipolar transistor) driven by the power control circuits. A stable multivibrator timer circuit is reset each time the spark gap is fired by a fast phototransistor circuit that detects spark-generated photons. This is coupled by a light wave-guide or optical fiber to provide high voltage isolation between the solid-state control circuits and the high voltage sections. This optically isolated signal is input to signal processing to give time of flight measurements. A digital or manual potentiometer range selector controls the time delay by increasing or decreasing the resistance in an RC network. When the capacitor in this network charges to a nominal voltage threshold, the timer circuit changes its logic state and drives the gate of the spark gap trigger IGBT on, and this initiates the spark gap arc. This RC time period ramp is an analog of the energy storage capacitor charging ramp, which also begins after the main arc occurs and drains the energy store. The longer the charge time, the higher the charge in the energy storage capacitor bank and the higher the voltage is when the next pulse is initiated. The voltage applied to the IEC tube is thus varied over a nominal 40 percent range. The peak output voltage can therefore be varied over a range of SO kV to 120kV. There is a reciprocal relationship between the pulse repetition frequency and the output pulse peak power. Design of the Total Integrated Interrogation System The integrated system is illustrated conceptually in Figure 5.2. so UNCLASSIFIED/ /F81it 8FFIIIAI!: 1!181! &••1::Y
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 72 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.