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Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Pulsed power

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Progression Of Surface Flashover In Vacuum With Polymer Insulators, Kimberly M. Faris Jul 2023

Progression Of Surface Flashover In Vacuum With Polymer Insulators, Kimberly M. Faris

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

In pulsed power devices, an insulator is needed to isolate the transmission line from vacuum chambers. Vacuum is used as the insulator because it contains no atoms. Since it is being used as an insulator in these pulsed power insulation systems, surface flashover in vacuum is one of the most extensively studied areas since it being the greatest constraint in providing power due to dielectrics that are not able to sustain the voltage the system is operating under. These dielectrics are used in between high voltage electrodes in various pulsed power applications as electrical insulators to limit the electric current …


Investigating Operational Modes In Gallium Nitride Photoconductive Switches, Brad J. Maynard Nov 2021

Investigating Operational Modes In Gallium Nitride Photoconductive Switches, Brad J. Maynard

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

As switching requirements for speed, power, and efficiency become more stringent, advances in wide-bandgap (WBG) materials has enabled their use in high power switching devices. One such device, the photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS), while previously constructed from GaAs, shows promise using WBG Mn-doped GaN. Lateral and vertical geometries of PCSS have been produced and evaluated for operation using sub-mJ/ns regime pulsed laser incidence. At fields below 25 kV/cm, the lateral switch operates in the linear regime where modest photocurrent fitting the laser envelope is observed. Above this threshold, the switches demonstrate circuit-limited persistent conductivity (PC) current, in what is presumed …


Early Time (E1) High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse Effects On Lightning Surge Arresters And Trip Coils, David Erney Sanabria Jul 2020

Early Time (E1) High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse Effects On Lightning Surge Arresters And Trip Coils, David Erney Sanabria

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

A High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) is a potential threat to the power grid. HEMP can couple on transmission lines causing large overvoltages, which could be harmful to the line and everything else connected to it. The effects of overvoltages on all sorts of devices in the power grid need to be understood. The work developed here is a joint effort between The University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories; The devices that are within the scope of this effort are Trip Coils and Lightning Surge Arresters (LSA). Existing data on HEMP, existing standards, and a previous analysis, were …


Advancing Compact Pulsed Power, Jon C. Pouncey Apr 2020

Advancing Compact Pulsed Power, Jon C. Pouncey

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The first two decades of the 21st century have seen significant interest in expanding the application of pulsed power technology beyond its traditional use in physics and nuclear weapons research. Applications in the field of national defense, which present unique constraints on system size, have provided impetus to increase the exploration of compact pulsed power solutions. Innovations related to energy density, insulation, switching, and power conversion systems have been realized, bringing deployable compact pulsed power systems closer to realization than ever before. However, recent systems integration efforts have shown that work still remains to develop needed tools and technologies …


Optimizing Swap For Directed Energy – Detection Of Buried Conductors With Low-Energy High-Voltage Pulses, Jon C. Pouncey Apr 2017

Optimizing Swap For Directed Energy – Detection Of Buried Conductors With Low-Energy High-Voltage Pulses, Jon C. Pouncey

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

High-voltage directed energy systems have shown promise in the role of neutralizing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in various experiments over the last decade. While these systems can be very effective with significant benefits over conventional counter-IED techniques, the excessive space, weight, and prime power (SWaP) requirements create significant challenges in developing deployable systems. One promising technique for dramatically reducing the SWaP requirement for certain types of directed energy counter-IED systems is the separation of the pulsed-power circuits into high voltage and high energy subsystems. In this technique, termed low average power high-voltage energy (LP-HVE) a repetitive low-energy, high-voltage pulse subsystem …