A VERY HIGH POWER SOLID STATE MODULATOR SYSTEM FOR FUSION SYSTEMS

THIS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WILL LEAD TO A VERY HIGH POWER SOLID STATE SWITCH MODULE SYSTEM. EACH SOLID STATE MODULE WILL BE CAPABLE OF OPENING AND CLOSING HUNDREDSOF AMPERES AT HUNDREDS OF VOLTS AT HIGH SPEED. VERY HIGH AVERAGE POWER DENSITIES ARE FEASIBLE. THE MODULES WILL REQUIRE VERY LOW STANDBY POWER AND WILL HAVE A LOW VOLTAGE DROP UNDER CONTINUOUS WAVE HIGH CURRENT CONDITIONS. THE MODULES MAY BE EASILY PARALLELED AND SERIATED TO HUNDREDS OFKILOAMPERES AND HUNDREDS OF KILOVOLTS OR EVEN MEGAVOLTS. THE MODULES WILL BE LOW COST, VERY COMPACT, RUGGED, AND LONGLIVED. USING NOVEL TECHNOLOGY, THE SWITCH MODULES CAN, FOR EXAMPLE, BE USED INDIVIDUALLY IN HUNDREDS OF KW APPLICATIONS AS INTELLIGENT, ELECTRONICALLY RESETTABLE, VERYHIGH SPEED DC CURRENT CIRCUIT BREAKERS, EVEN WITH HIGHLY INDUCTIVE LOADS. THE PHASE I PROJECT WILL RESEARCH, DESIGN,BUILD, AND TEST A COMPACT 300 AMPERE 1,000 VOLT SOLID STATE SWITCH MODULE FOR A MODULATOR SYSTEM CAPABLE OF SWITCHING HUNDREDS OF AMPERES AND HUNDREDS OF KILOVOLTS IN LINEAR OR SWITCH MODE. IN PHASE II, A PROTOTYPE VERY HIGH POWER MODULATOR SYSTEM WILL BE BUILT THAT COULD BE USED FOR LONG PULSE GYROTRONS OR NEUTRAL BEAMS OF ARBITRARILY HIGH VOLTAGE.