Design considerations for a PEBB-based Marx-topology ILC klystron modulator

The concept of Power Electronic Building Blocks (PEBBs) has its origin in the U.S. Navy during the last decade of the past century. As compared to a more conventional or classical design approach, a PEBB-oriented design approach combines various potential advantages such as increased modularity, high availability, and simplified serviceability. This relatively new design paradigm for power conversion has progressively matured since then and its underlying philosophy has been clearly and successfully demonstrated in a number of real-world applications. Therefore, this approach has been adopted here to design a Marx-topology modulator for an International Linear Collider (ILC) environment where easy serviceability and high availability are crucial. This paper describes various aspects relating to the design of a 32-cell Marx-topology ILC klystron modulator. The concept of nested droop correction is introduced and illustrated. Several design considerations including cosmic ray withstand, power cycling capability, fault tolerance, etc., are discussed. Details of the design of a Marx cell PEBB are included.