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Magnetocumulative generators (MCG) of electric pulses are based on conversion of explosion energy into that of electric pulses. Owing to the high energy capacity of modern explosives, the magnetocumulative generators of today have pretty small dimensions and low weight and are capable of generating electric pulses that carry currents as high as hundreds of mega-amperes and produce energies up to 100 MJ, their power being as high as 10¹³ W.

The rapid progress observable in the area of R&D on those sources imbues us with the hope that these values will increase dramatically in near future.

IEMR, Ltd. has developed and manufactured a number of magnetocumulative generators of the spiral and strip-line types which are designed to operate in compatibility with various devices and, respectively, have a broad range of parameters. Modified versions of these devices have been engineered such that enable to generate several electric pulses per one explosion.

Spiral Magnetocumulative Generators

Spiral magnetocumulative generators belong to a one of the most researched and widely available types of the MCGs. At the present time, the degree of understanding of the underlying physics of their operation is considerably high, resulting in their being widely employed as part of items designed to address many practical problems.

IEMR, Ltd. has developed a diverse set of spiral generators with the diameter of the winding ranging from 40 mm to 100 mm which allows to produce the energy per electric pulse ranging from several Joules to hundreds of kilo-Joules. The general view of one of the modified versions of the spiral MCG designed to generate electric pulses with the voltage amplitude 400-450 kV is given in Fig. 1.

	Fig. 1. General view of high-power spiral MCG 1 – Spiral MCG; 2 – Pulsed step-up transformer; 3 – Electric power peaking unit; 4 – Load-connection unit; 5 – MCG triggering devices.

Since at the MCG output the voltage pulse amplitude does not exceed several tens of kilovolts, its increasing to the assigned level warranted the use of an iron-free, oil filled pulsed transformer. The general view of this powerful step-up pulsed transformer is given in Fig. 2.

	Fig. 2. General view of iron-free pulsed transformer designed to step up voltage to 450 kV: 1 – Twin MCGs terminated to transformer primary winding; 2 – Unit of MCG connection to primary winding; 3 – Oil-filled transformer frame; 4 – High-voltage cable lead.

In order to produce high power levels per electric pulse, this configuration employs a dedicated low-inductance release ensuring high rates of switching of the current which comes via gas-filled spark gap to the high-voltage load, using the connections (4).

The power peaking unit which is matched to the load connection one is shown in Fig. 3.

	Fig. 3. GGeneral view of electric power peaking unit and load connection one 1 – Power peaking unit; 2 – Load-connecting flanges.

Main performances of the device are given in Table 1.

Table 1.

Our proprietary power source based on spiral MCG can be used to supply power to such various devices with a low input resistance that need high voltages, large electric power, while keeping their dimensions small and weight low.