Prototype Test and Manufacture of a Modular 12.5 MJ Capacitive Pulsed Power Supply

A new Pulsed High Magnetic Field Facility (PHMFF) is under construction at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, China. In order to provide a wide spectrum range, a modular capacitive pulsed power supply is designed to energize 12.5 MJ at 25 kV and a large variety of coils are designed for magnetic fields in the 50-80 T with pulse duration 15-200 ms, respectively. In order to energize multi-coil systems, the 12.5 MJ power supply is divided into 11 independent 1 MJ modules with a short circuit current of 44.7 kA each and 2 independent 0.75 MJ modules for 61.2 kA each. Each module is provided with its own protection inductor, thyristor switch, crowbar circuit, dump circuit, polarity-changing circuit, charging unit and switchgear. The current pulses can be modified in shape, amplitude and duration by varying the charging voltage, the number of modules and the crowbar resistors. For verifying the design scheme and gaining experience in the construction and operation of pulsed power supply, a 1 MJ prototype that is used to energize pulsed magnets for 50-72 T fields with reversible polarity has been developed. In this paper, after the introduction of the system configuration with different module types and system settings, the design of both the 1 MJ and 0.75 MJ modules is described in detail. Finally, test results of the 1 MJ prototype are presented.