Chandi: 160-KJ Capacitor Bank for Plasma Applications

Summary form only given. The design procedure, fabrication details and experimental results of a high-energy capacitor bank is reported in this paper. The bank consists of 8 capacitors connected in parallel, each having a capacitance of 178 muF giving a total of 1424 muF. The bank is charged at 15 kV using a 28 kV power supply which charges the capacitors in 65 seconds utilizing full wave-charging technique. The total energy of the bank is 160 kJ at 15 kV. A modeling of power supply was done so that all the components involved are utilized to their operating limits safely. Moreover, to give fault protection to the capacitor bank we have implemented neutral control technique in the power supply. The capacitor bank is discharged to the inductive load through an ignitron switch of very high Coulomb rating and capable of withstanding high voltages at its electrodes. We have also successfully tested our fiber optic isolated voltage diagnostic system on this high-energy capacitor bank. The cables used for connecting capacitor bank with ignitron switch are used in parallel to give them collective capability of bearing bank discharge currents. These cables are capable of holding high DC voltages (40 kV), which appear at the time of charging of the bank. To check the current delivering capability of bank, it is discharged through a small inductive load made of thick copper wire. The bank is fabricated for various plasma applications requiring production of high magnetic fields