NIF power conditioning system testing at LLNL

Author

Fulkerson, E.S. ; Newton, M. ; Hulsey, S. ; Hammon, J. ; Moore, W.B.S.

Author_Institution

Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab., CA, USA

Volume

2

fYear

2001

Firstpage

1524

Abstract

A fully integrated test facility for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Power Conditioning System (PCS) was completed in August of 2000 at LLNL. The system consists of the computer control and data acquisition subsystem, a 24kV 2.2-MJ Main Energy Storage Module (MESM), twenty 180ft lengths of high voltage transmission cable, and a standard NIF flashlamp, load (the Frame Assembly Unit or FAU). The MESM can contain up to 24 (20 nominal) 300uF energy storage capacitors. Stainless steel inductive/resistive (9uh/0.026 ohms) damping elements limit fault currents in the event of a capacitor or main bus failure. A single spark-gap switches the entire bank output through ballast inductors to the output cables. Each cable has it own ballast inductor to insure current sharing, the values of the inductors are varied with cable length. The test facility can be fired once every ten minutes with a total peak output current of 580kA at pulse width of 400/spl mu/s. We will present in detail tests performed to demonstrate that the system meets all specifications for operational performance well as statistical data verifying stability and reliability.

Keywords

data acquisition; fault current limiters; fusion reactor ignition; high-voltage engineering; plasma inertial confinement; power cables; power generation control; power transmission lines; pulsed power supplies; 180 ft; 2.2 MJ; 24 kV; 300 muF; 400 mus; 580 kA; Frame Assembly Unit; LLNL; MESM; Main Energy Storage Module; NIF power conditioning system testing; National Ignition Facility; PCS; Power Conditioning System; computer control; data acquisition subsystem; fault currents limitation; fully integrated test facility; fusion reactor; high voltage transmission cable; single spark-gap; Capacitors; Electronic ballasts; Energy storage; Ignition; Inductors; Personal communication networks; Power conditioning; System testing; Test facilities; Voltage control;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Pulsed Power Plasma Science, 2001. PPPS-2001. Digest of Technical Papers

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7120-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPPS.2001.1001849

Filename

1001849