55
Inductive
Modulator Switch--Diversified
Technologies, Inc.,
Dr.
Jeffrey A. Casey, Principal Investigator, casey@divtecs.com
Mr.
Michael A. Kempkes, Business Official, kempkes@divtecs.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER83396
Amount:
$749,147
The
Next Generation Linear Collider (NLC) will require over 800 pulse modulators to
drive its radio frequency klystrons. Increased
modulator efficiency will be critical to cost effective operation because each
percentage of increased efficiency is worth millions of dollars in electricity
cost savings over the NLC's operating lifetime.
Current efforts to develop a reliable and cost effective design are based
on commercially available switching elements.
However, these devices are designed primarily for electric motor drives
and are not optimized for pulsed power applications.
This project will develop very fast, insulated gate bipolar transistor
(IGBT) configurations specifically suited for pulsed power applications.
Phase
I designed, prototyped, and assessed individual IGBT package configurations, and
predicted their performance when utilized for a full NLC modulator. The
decreased manufacturing cost associated with each configuration was determined,
and the Life Cycle Cost impact of that configuration on the overall NLC program
was estimated. Phase II will refine,
prototype, test, and iterate each configuration.
Pulsed Power Transistors (PPTs) will be used to build two solid state,
pulsed power switches. The first
will replicate one of the NLC solid state modulator prototypes, and the second
will be for a commercial, medical accelerator system.
For both, the size, cost, and performance of the PPT-based design will be
compared to both traditional pulsed power systems that use vacuum tubes and
recently developed solid state systems that use commercial IGBTs.
Commercial Applications and Other
Benefits
as described by awardee: IGBT
packages optimized for pulsed power applications should significantly improve
the performance and cost effectiveness of a variety of commercial pulsed power
systems utilized in radars, semiconductor manufacturing, cancer treatment,
inspection systems, and sterilization of food and mail.