High energy, low inductance, high current fiberglass energy storage capacitor for the Atlas Machine Marx modules

The Los Alamos National Laboratory's Atlas Marx design team envisioned a double ended plastic case 60 kV, 15 nH, 650 kA, energy storage capacitor. A design specification was established and submitted to various vendors. Maxwell Energy Products drew from its development of large fiberglass case, high voltage, low inductance "FASTCAP" capacitors manufactured for Maxwell Technologies' ACE II, ACE III and ACE IV machines. This paper discusses the LANL specification and Maxwell Energy Products' successful design, Model No. 39232, 34.1 /spl mu/F, 60 kV, 13/spl times/29/spl times/27", the only capacitor qualified by LANL for the 23 Mega Joule Atlas application. Maxwell's past experience in this type of capacitor is covered. The performance data is reviewed and the life test data compared to the original calculated design life. Challenges included Maxwell's "keep it simple" design goal which was maintained to minimize the effort required to create and manufacture a nearly 600 pound capacitor.