Operational parameters of a pulsed electrothermal plasma source: pulse power system characterization and measurement

The Plasma Interactions with Propellants Experiment (PIPE) is a facility designed for the study of materials and propellants exposed to a pulsed, high-heat flux plasma produced with an electrothermal plasma gun. PIPE is powered by a single 340 /spl mu/F capacitor with a maximum charging voltage of 10 kV, for a maximum discharge energy of 17 kJ. This paper describes voltage and current measurements made with a high-frequency compensated voltage divider and a Pearson coil. For these experiments, the gun was operated in air at 2 Torr at discharge energies between 1.1 and 8.1 kJ. The maximum current ranged between 10 and 45 kA. The maximum gun power ranged between 30 and 160 MW. Typical discharge duration is on the order of 100 /spl mu/s. Much of the data is shown to fit simple empirical relations.