Measuring the mass dispensed by an ultrafast gas valve in a two-stage gas injection system for an advanced plasma gun for PJMIF

The two-stage gas injection system is introduced for the first time to inject a working gas into a coaxial plasma gun to be accelerated as a plasma slab to hypersonic speed [1]. It attempts to address the gas sealing requirements in two stages. A slow-acting (milliscecond) electromagnetic valve is used to feed an otherwise evacuated plenum of an ultrafast electromagnetic gas valve. The ultrafast gas valve is triggered to open and dispense a metered amount of working gas into the plasma gun only after its plenum is filled.