Pulsed Power & Electromagnetics Division (PP&EMD) at BARCF (V) works on diversified applications of Pulsed Power and Electromagnetics such as pulsed plasma based pressure generators for enhanced oil recovery in oil wells and controlled rock fragmentation in mines, pulsed electromagnetic welding of reactor grade high strength alloys and its automation, sealed-off systems, neutron generators for detector calibration and activation analysis applications.
7/2020The device is used to electrically explode the conducting wire of up to 11cm length of 250 micron diameter in underwater conditions. A pressure pulse is generated inside the water which decays with empirical law of (distance)-0.7 from the metal wire. The pressures at 5cm are expected to be ~100Mpa. At close distances the pressures are still higher in amplitude. The system is tested to be working in the saline water which has salinity level to that of near sea water. The discharge is done in sub-microsecond duration in order to mitigate any considerable shunting possibility of electrical energy through the water instead of desired path of the energy deposition. The dimensions are restricted to 114mm in radius and 2.3m in length for multiple repetitive applications. The weight of the pressure wave generator without any external housing is 60 kgs. The wire is presently clamped between the nut-bolted output connections points which are accessible from outside of the system.
7/2020The device is used to electrically explode the conducting wire of up to 11cm length of 250 micron diameter in underwater conditions. A pressure pulse is generated inside the water which decays with empirical law of (distance)-0.7 from the metal wire. The pressures at 5cm are expected to be ~100Mpa. At close distances the pressures are still higher in amplitude. The system is tested to be working in the saline water which has salinity level to that of near sea water. The discharge is done in sub-microsecond duration in order to mitigate any considerable shunting possibility of electrical energy through the water instead of desired path of the energy deposition. The dimensions are restricted to 114mm in radius and 2.3m in length for multiple repetitive applications. The weight of the pressure wave generator without any external housing is 60 kgs. The wire is presently clamped between the nut-bolted output connections points which are accessible from outside of the system.
1/2020Automation system is designed to automate the process of MPW of fuel pin T91 tube of 2.58m length and 6.6m OD to T91 end-plug. The automation system includes movement of tube and press fitted rod on inclined tray, segregation of one pin from array of pins, opening and closing support. Suitable arrangements are also made using gripper and rollers to hold the pin rigidly while applying the high magnetic pressure on pin. After magnetic pulse welding of the pin will be removed and transferred to separate tray.
2020-01-01/2023-12-31Linear Transformer Driver (LTD) is an intense pulsed power topology, with an ingenious combination of conventional high voltage transformer coupling and ‘Marx’ staging techniques to generate voltage and current in the range of few MV’s and hundreds of kA’s respectively into a matched load. Such cavities are connected in series for high voltage output. The design includes the switching of all spark-gaps (few hundreds in numbers) coherently within few nano-second jitter.
2020-01-01/2023-12-31IEC (Inertial-Electrostatic Confinement) is an alternate confinement concept to Magnetic and Inertial fusion. IEC fusion device is an extremely compact and simple device, running by electrical discharge on D-D/D-T/D-3He fuel gases. IEC fusion involves establishing a strong electrical potential well in the center of two concentric spheres, and fuel atoms are allowed to freely travel within both sphere. The outer sphere is an anode with a positive charge. The inner sphere is a highly transparent cathode with a negative charge. The relative transparency of the inner sphere or grid allows charged particles accelerating toward it to become confined within it with minimal collisions with the inner grid. In order for the positively charge ions, or fuel, to have sufficient energy to fuse, they should only collide with other fusion fuel and only after being accelerated.
2020-01-01/2023-12-31A replenishable compact plasma focus device based pulsed neutron source has been developed at PP&EMD, BARCF (V) for active neutron interrogation experiments. While using deuterium as fuelling gas, this device produces average yield of ~108 neutrons per pulse in 4πsr. The typical duration of pulse/burst of 2.45 MeV neutrons is ~50ns. The average forward to radial neutron yield anisotropy for this device is found to be ~2. The pulsed power supply with maximum stored energy of ~2.5kJ that is used to drive plasma focus device and it cumulatively delivers peak current of ~200kA in a quarter time period of <2µs. The energy stored in capacitor modules is rapidly transferred into plasma focus head through pseudospark switch. The entire system is contained on a moveable trolley having dimensions 0.5m×0.5m×1.0m.
2020-01-01/2023-12-31Electromagnetic Manufacturing (EMM) is a high speed joining process that uses electromagnetic force to accelerate one metal against another resulting in a solid state welding/forming. The force is generated when a high voltage charged capacitor bank discharges through a magnetic coil placed in the proximity of work piece. The force developed is on account of interaction of induced current in the work piece with the magnetic field produced in the coil (Lorentz Force). In these techniques, forming and welding are achieved without physical contact between tool and job piece. It consists of 40 kJ, 20 kV capacitor bank comprising of four modules (sub-banks), four trigatron switches one for each sub-bank, their trigger circuit, capacitor charging power supply and helical /flat/spiral coil depending on the geometry of the job.
2020-01-01/2023-12-31RUDRA-II facility is basically a four module Railgap switched capacitor bank that is capable of delivering cumulative peak current of 2 MA per discharge (with reversal of ~80%). In order to segregate the coulomb transfer loading on switches and to minimize the effective circuit inductance, the capacitor bank is subdivided in to four 200kJ modules. Each module comprises of 4 nos. of high energy density capacitors having maximum stored energy of 50kJ. Individual capacitors are rated as 52µF/44kV and have peak current delivering capacity of 150kA. The equivalent series inductance (ESL) of the capacitor is rated as 70nH. The individual Railgap switches are capable of transferring maximum 10 coulombs of charge at a peak current of 750kA with a jitter of <2ns. The output of all modules terminates to centralized collector plate through URM67 cables.
2020-01-01/2023-12-31RUDRA-I facility is basically a two module Ignitron switched capacitor bank that is capable of delivering cumulative peak current of 600kA per discharge (with reversal of ~80%). Each module comprises of 4 nos. of high energy density capacitors having maximum stored energy of 50kJ. Individual capacitors are rated as 52µF/44kV and have peak current delivering capacity of 150kA. The high charge transfer capacity mercury pooled Ignitron switch (#NL8900) is rated as 35kV/300kA with ability to handle peak charge transfers up to 250 Coulombs in each discharge. The typical jitter of ignitron switches was measured to be <200ns. Owing to the consistent triggering reliability and least maintenance these capacitor bank modules have become the main workhorse for conducting variety of pulsed electromagnetic welding experiments.
2020-01-01/2023-12-31A fast current capacitor bank delivering peak currents up to ~1MA at discharging frequency of ≥100kHz has been developed and tested for high strain rate EMW applications. It works on bipolar charging concept having effective capacitance and maximum stored energy of 21μF and 39kJ, respectively. Each segmented module (charged in opposite polarities up to 30kV) comprises of parallel connected 6 nos. of 7μF/30kV capacitors constituting modular capacitance of 42µF. For sharing charge transfer and low inductance switching, two Railgap switches are synchronously triggered in parallel from indigenously developed transmission line transformer based trigger generator that produces ≥ 60kV output with dV/dt of >5kV/ns
01-07-2020Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection method that utilizes short-wavelength ultraviolet radiation UV-C band (100nm–280nm) harmful to microorganisms. In the developed sterilization cabinet 8 nos. of 11W slim double-ended UV-C tubular lamps have been used inside. It’s a low-pressure mercury-vapor lamp, which emits about 86% of its light at 254 nm. The typical yield of UV-C lamp is 30-60 lumens per watt and the nominal useful life is about 11,000 hours. The effectiveness of UV sterilization scheme mainly depends on UV exposure duration and microorganism’s ability to withstand UV during irradiation, for e.g. the ‘E-Coli’ bacteria sample got completely killed within 30 minute exposure. This compact UV sterilizer cabinet can be operated uninterruptedly 24×7 to disinfect various frequently used essentials like mobiles, tablets, laptops, phones, watches, wallets, ornaments, currency etc.
01-07-2020Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) is a promising method of producing non-thermal plasma, which is widely used in variety of industrial and biological applications including disinfection/ sterilization.
01-07-2020A compact system operating at supply line frequency of 50Hz has been developed for producing non-thermal atmospheric Argon plasma jet for producing H2O2 using normal tap water. H2O2 concentration increases with the duration of plasma jet irradiation. These results were obtained by semi-quantitative determination using H2O2 test strips. It is considered that, upon plasma jet irradiation, hydroxyl (OH) radicals are generated when high-energy electrons in a plasma jet collide with water (H2O) molecules in normal tap water and bind to each other to form H2O2.
Development of automated Magnetic Pulse Welding (MPW) system for welding of fuel pin tube to end-plug inside the glove box
Thunderbolt – A Bipolar fast (100 kHz) capacitor bank
RUDRA – II Capacitor Bank
RUDRA – I Capacitor Bank
ECIL MAKE 40kJ EMM SYSTEM