PSR switchyard kicker system improvements

A switchyard kicker system which allows time sharing of the beam between the Los Alamos WNR/LANSCE complex and other LAMPF (Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility) users was redesigned as part of the Proton Storage Ring addition. The system consists of two pulsers providing 1750 A, 1 ms pulses to a pair of 1 m-long ferrite magnets. The system was designed to operate at a 24 Hz maximum repetition rate. In 1986, a modification was made to the equipment to allow operation at 40 Hz. While the system operated reliably this way, some difficulties were observed. A desire on the part of the users to operate the system at 60 Hz coupled with a major system failure led to design changes to load resistors, drive cables, charging system, and cooling system. These changes are described along with an analysis of the difficulties encountered with the original hardware.<
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