Estimating and projecting operating fields for liquid dielectrics in KrF laser fusion power plants

Krypton fluoride (KrF) laser fusion power plant designs include pulsed oil and water dielectrics with very large electrode areas that must operate continuously and reliably for years at 5-10 pulses per second. Operating electric fields must be maximized to minimize size and cost. To obtain a better...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on plasma science 2002-10, Vol.30 (5), p.1967-1974
Main Authors: Smith, I., Weidenheimer, D., Morton, D., Schlitt, L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Breakdown
Costs
Criteria
Dielectric liquids
Dielectrics
Electric breakdown
Electric fields
Electric power generation
Electric power plants
Electrodes
Estimating
Fluids
Laser fusion
Lasers
Optical design
Optical pulses
Petroleum
Power generation
Power lasers
Power plants
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Krypton fluoride (KrF) laser fusion power plant designs include pulsed oil and water dielectrics with very large electrode areas that must operate continuously and reliably for years at 5-10 pulses per second. Operating electric fields must be maximized to minimize size and cost. To obtain a better understanding of design criteria for the electric fields the authors discuss the statistical treatment of breakdown probability. They also examine the use of the published area effects for breakdown of oil and water; the authors suggest that at very large areas the results may have been controlled by the presence of large impurities and that engineering criteria for limiting the type and size of these can allow reliable operation at fields higher than those predicted by the accepted area effects in oil and water. Other factors that might raise or lower safe operating fields are discussed, as are polarity effects. A system is described that will be used for accelerated tests of oil and water insulation to reduce the uncertainties in the choice of operating fields for fusion power plants.
ISSN:0093-3813
1939-9375
DOI:10.1109/TPS.2002.805335