Linear transformer driver: Difference between revisions

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The linear transformer driver (LTD) is a low-voltage variant of the inductive-voltage-adder (IVA) technology first applied at Arzamas-16 (now Sarov), Russia and later at the Institute for high-current electronics (IHCE) in Tomsk, Russia. The Hermes III gamma-ray simulator at Sandia National Laboratories is another example of an IVA design. In IVA designs, each megavolt “stage” is added in series to the proceeding stage using large iron cores to inductively isolate the individual stages. This concept permits a very large voltage to be generated by adding the voltage from each stage in series. Hermes III delivers a peak voltage of 20 MV to an electron beam loadloaded to the device.

LTDs use the same IVA concept but use low voltage components. Each individual cavity (similar to an IVA stage) operates at a open circuit voltage typically in the range of 100 kV to 200 kV. There is no high-voltage switching or pulse forming! An LTD cavity is composed of a number of "bricks" connected in parallel. The choice of the brick capacitance, resistance, and inductance defines the base pulse shape of the brick, and therefore the pulse shape and current of the cavity and, finally, the module. There are no further pulse-forming components. The efficiency of energy coupling from the storage capacitors to the load is very high, typically over 60–70%.