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The PHELIX pulsed-power driver is a 300 kJ, portable, transformer-coupled, capacitor bank capable of delivering 3-5 MA, 10 s pulse into a low inductance load. Here we describe further testing and hydrodynamics experiments. First, a 4 nH static inductive load has been constructed. This allows for repetitive high-voltage, high-current testing of the system. Results are used in the calibration of simple circuit models and numerical simulations across a range of bank charges ( 20 V0 40 kV). Furthermore, a dynamic liner-on-target load experiment has been conducted to explore the shock-launched transport of particulates (diam. 1 m) from a surface. The trajectories of the particulates are diagnosed with radiography. Results are compared to 2D hydro-code simulations. Finally, initial studies are underway to assess the feasibility of using the PHELIX driver as an electromagnetic launcher for planer shock-physics experiments., See also ADM002371. 2013 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, Digest of Technical Papers 1976-2013, and Abstracts of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science. IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference (19th). Held in San Francisco, CA on 16-21 June 2013., The original document contains color images.

This paper focuses on the closed-loop voltage control of two classical soft switching pulsed power resonant converters for radio frequency applications. Based on the optimization algorithms proposed in the previous work, the two converters are designed to produce a series of long pulse voltage waveforms, each one rated at 9MW, 120kV, 1ms, 1% voltage ripple. A novel PI + Repetitive Control strategy is employed for voltage pulse regulation, resulting in a fast rise time, reduced overshoot and constant amplitude. The soft-switching of semiconductor devices is ensured throughout the pulse by a combined frequency and phase shift modulation, in order to maximize the system conversion efficiency., See also ADM002371. 2013 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, Digest of Technical Papers 1976-2013, and Abstracts of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science. IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference (19th). Held in San Francisco, CA on 16-21 June 2013., The original document contains color images.

The PHELIX Liner Demonstration Experiment (PLD-1) took place in September of 2010 at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The PHELIX machine consists of a 500 kJ single-marx capacitor bank cable-coupled to a toroidal 1:4 current step-up transformer which delivers multi-Mega- Ampere currents to a cm size load. In this experiment the load consisted of a 3 cm radius, 0.8 mm thick, 3 cm tall aluminum liner, copper glide planes, a thin polyethylene insulator, and a 0.5 cm thick aluminum return conductor. Two independent channels of fiber optic Faraday rotation measured a peak load current 4 MA with a pulse width of 10 s. Four linear Rogowski coils measured the output current of the 4 marx modules. High-resolution flash X-radiography imaged a stable, highly symmetric and uniform liner 14.5 s after current start. A 12 channel laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) system tracked the inside surface of the liner throughout the experiment and showed a peak velocity before impact with probes of 1 km/s. The LDV probes were arrayed axially as well as azimuthally and confirmed the symmetry of the liner trajectory. Surprisingly, the LDV showed distribution of velocities of the inner liner surface late in time. PLD-1 is the first step towards utilizing the PHELIX pulsed-power system at the Los Alamos proton radiography facility., See also ADM002371. 2013 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, Digest of Technical Papers 1976-2013, and Abstracts of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science. IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference (19th). Held in San Francisco, CA on 16-21 June 2013., The original document contains color images.

The PHELIX pulsed power project will introduce magnetically driven hydrodynamics experiments to the Los Alamos National Laboratory s proton radiography facility (pRad). The Precision High Energy-density Liner Implosion eXperiment (PHELIX) has been commissioned at Los Alamos. A small footprint capacitor bank consisting of four parallel connected single-stage marx units (500 kJ) is cable coupled to a toroidal, current stepup transformer to deliver multi-Mega-Ampere, 10 s current pulses to cm size cylindrical loads. In a sequence of tests the performance of each component (capacitor bank and transformer) was evaluated and compared to a circuit model. The transformer coupling was observed to be k 0.93. The tests culminated in a liner implosion experiment in which an 3 cm radius, 0.8 mm thick, 3 cm tall aluminum liner was accelerated to a velocity of 1 km/s. The suite of machine diagnostics included linear Rogowski coils and Faraday rotation for current measurements. The experimental diagnostics include Bdot probes, multi-channel photon Doppler velocimetry (PDV), and single-frame, flash X-radiography to evaluate the performance of the high precision liner implosion. Currently, work is focused on integrating PHELIX into normal operations with the 800 MeV proton radiography facilities. There, high-resolution, high-frame-rate imaging of hydrodynamic experiments will be possible., See also ADM002371. 2013 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, Digest of Technical Papers 1976-2013, and Abstracts of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science. IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference (19th). Held in San Francisco, CA on 16-21 June 2013., The original document contains color images.