The Energy Balance of Plasma in a Coaxial Plasma Opening Switch

The two-dimensional energy balance in a coaxial plasma opening switch （POS） is studied based on the single-fluid magnetohydrodynarnic （MHD） equations coupled with the generalized Ohm＇s law. The energy transfers between the plasma and the magnetic field are considered during the penetration of the magnetic field as the Ohmic heating is included in the energy-balance equation. The focus is on the energy partition between the magnetic-field energy and the dissipated magnetic-field energy in a high-density POS with different rise-in-time electric currents at the generator boundary. The simulation code is tested in two cases： the constant-in-time current case and the linear rise-in-time current case. For the sinusoidally rise-in-time current similar to that of the experiments, it is shown that at the end of the conduction phase the dissipated magnetic-field energy is 36.5% of the input electromagnetic energy, which is consistent with the experimental results.

Influence of Downstream Flow on Conduction Phase of Coaxial Plasma Opening Switch

Plasma behaviour and the scaling relations in a coaxial plasma opening switch （POS） using hydrogen plasma are studied self-consistently based on the two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） equations in conjunction with the generalized Ohm＇s law. The vacuum region on the right of POS is included in the model and the influence of downstream flow on the conduction characteristics is discussed. It is found that with the penetration of magnetic field, the pure hydrogen plasma is pushed downstream significantly; and POS still conducts current after the magnetic field arrives at the load edge of POS, which is different from the previous experimental results in a multispecies POS. It is because that the noticeable downstream plasma in the pure hydrogen POS may continue to conduct the current, while in the multispecies POS, the downstream plasma is unimportant so that the conduction phase ends soon after the magnetic field reaches the load edge. The scaling relation obtained from the simulations including the downstream region is consistent with the experimental results.

Influence of Cathode Materials on Opening Performance of Plasma Opening Switch

Experiments have been conducted on a plasma opening switch (POS) test-bed to investigate the influence of cathode materials made of aluminum, stainless steel, molybdenum and tungsten on opening performance for conduction time up to 3 microseconds, conduction current up to 100 kA. Remarkaly different opening characteristics have been shown for these materials,with tungsten being of the best opening performance.

Plasma density evolution in plasma opening switch obtained by a time-resolved sensitive He-Ne interferometer

To understand the formation process of vacuum gap in coaxial microsecond conduction time plasma opening switch(POS),we have made measurements of the line-integrated plasma density during switch operation using a time-resolved sensitive He-Ne interferometer.The conduction current and conduction time in experiments are about 120 kA and 1 s,respectively.As a result,more than 85%of conduction current has been transferred to an inductive load with rise time of 130 ns.The radial dependence of the density is measured by changing the radial location of the line-of-sight for shots with the same nominal POS parameters.During the conduction phase,the line-integrated plasma density in POS increases at all radial locations over the gun-only case by further ionization of material injected from the guns.The current conduction is observed to cause a radial redistribution of the switch plasma.A vacuum gap forms rapidly in the plasma at 5.5 mm from the center conductor,which is consistent with the location where magnetic pressure is the largest,allowing current to be transferred from the POS to the load.

Plasma Density Measurements in Cable Gun Experiments with a Sensitive He-Ne Interferometer

A time-resolved sensitive He-Ne laser interferometer without complicated active stabilization was built up and applied to low-density plasma measurements. A precision of about 0.2° in phase measurements was achieved with a minimum line-integrated plasma density as low as 8.3× 10^13 cm^-2. With this interferometer, the characteristics of the plasma generated by a cable plasma gun was investigated systematically. The reproducibility, spatial and temporal distributions and the averaged injection velocity of the plasma are presented. In addition, the interaction of the plasma flow with a conductor was studied by placing a metal plate in the downstream of the cable gun.