Thermodynamic state of the magnetic flux compression generator volume

Andreas Neuber, Thomas Holt, James C. Dickens, Magne Kristiansen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The thermodynamic state of the gas trapped in the volume of helical magnetic flux compression generators was measured using optical emission spectroscopy and fast pressure probes. Three main stages of operation are discussed: 1) the initial stage, which can be represented by a freely expanding armature, that shows fairly low gas temperatures, as low as 2000 K; 2) the intermediate stage during 14-4 μs before generator burnout that exhibits mainly an atomic copper line transition at about 0.8 eV; 3) the last few μs that reveal a highly compressed gas with temperatures of about 5000 K and pressures of about 1500 bar. Most experiments were conducted in air, initially at STP, some results are given for argon and sulfur hexafluoride initially at one atmosphere. Additionally, the thermodynamic state is linked to the electrical volume breakdown threshold via simple resistance measurements that were conducted in current-free flux compression generators.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1659-1664
Number of pages6
JournalIEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
Volume30
Issue number5 I
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2002

Keywords

  • Conductivity measurement
  • Electric breakdown
  • Electroexplosive devices
  • Magnetic flux compression
  • Shocked gas

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