A Compact, 300-kVDC Bushing for Operation under Ultra-High Vacuum Pressure

The growing energy demand and the global warming crisis require increasing the share of sustainable energy sources. Fusion energy has the potential to provide a zero-carbon, low-waste energy source that revolutionizes the energy industry. A gram of hydrogen isotope as fusion fuel can give equal energy to burning 16 m
³
of coal. In a novel approach to producing fusion energy, the Orbitron concept has been introduced in which ions are electrostatically confined around a high voltage (H.V.) cathode. In this method, the cathode voltage should be as high as hundreds of kVs. One of the major engineering challenges lies in the transmission of such voltage levels from the atmospheric pressure to a high vacuum environment (p< 10
⁻⁸
Torr). One should be concerned not only about the breakdown of the vacuum or dielectric but also about the surface flashover across the insulator’s surface. This study proposes an innovative design for a compact, 300-kV bushing to achieve the aforementioned goal.