Assembly of Atlas Power Flow Channel

Assembly of the Atlas power flow channel (PFC) containing the target cassette was a difficult operation prior to moving the machine to the Nevada test site (NTS). The assembly operation consisted of the target cassette manufactured at the Target Fabrication Facility of Los Alamos National Laboratory (TFF), vacuum containment hardware, and the PFC. The combination was made up of approximately 317 separate components that were required to fit accurately and become vacuum tight. The assembly process also included wired diagnostic feed through and x-ray diagnostic components inside the vacuum containment. All this activity occurred for each experiment on the deck of the Atlas machine. Each experiment altered the position of the conductor plates due to the dynamic forces of the electrical and magnetic pulse causing each subsequent installation to be unique with its own unique problems. An evolutionary design for the Atlas vacuum envelope (VE) eliminates the fit problems on the machine and reduces components assembled on the Atlas deck to one vacuum envelope assembled in a laboratory consisting of approximately 223 parts, and one part for mating to the PFC. The original Atlas PFC had a pumped volume of approximately 37.7 liters. The VE has a pumped volume of approximately 0.8 liters.