High voltage, high current, pulsed power engineering
The president of APP has more than 25 years of experience in pulsed power engineering, including a long association with the Laboratory of Plasma Studies at Cornell University. We engineer pulsed technology from single rack-mounted drivers to multi-pulser systems and large pulsers consisting of Marx generators and multiple stages of pulse compression.
Our repetitively pulsed systems include a solid state 10kA, 3.2kJ/pulse, 5 pulses per second, 200A rms magnet coil driver and a thyratron switched 35kV, 40kA, 20kA/ms, 5 pulse/s pulser. The FIREX pulser, designed for Cornell University, stores 300kJ and delivers a 1.2MV, 800kA, 150ns pulse to an ion diode load.
Plasma source and ion diode design & analysis
APP designs ion diodes used to produce repetitively pulsed, high voltage, high current ion beams. Ions are extracted from an anode plasma and electrostatically accelerated while a pulsed magnetic field is used to inhibit electron flow. We design dense, high purity, pulsed plasma sources for use with our ion diodes or for ion implantation and plasma processing applications. We work with our customers to define the species, density, energy, geometry and other requirements of the plasma source or ion beam needed. APP utilizes in-house staff and expert consultants to develop and analyze designs to meet these requirements.
APP has supplied an ion diode developed for industrial ion beam surface treatment. The diode has been used to generate 100ns pulsed hydrogen, nitrogen, argon and helium ion beams at 200 - 600keV and 40kA ion current, at 5 pulses per second.
Actively cooled magnetic field coil design
Practical, repetitively pulsed, magnetic field coils experience large magnetic forces and high power dissipation. APP’s actively cooled coils benefit from careful mechanical design for stress and heat transfer while satisfying the geometric requirements and materials constraints of operation in the high voltage regime. We have experience designing and building both vacuum cast epoxy coil assemblies and innovative no-cast coil assemblies.
APP has supplied water cooled, no-cast electrode and coil assemblies which generate a 5kG field operating at 10kA peak current, 5 pulses/second and 200A rms.
Integrated system design and fabrication
APP can design and deliver integrated systems consisting of multiple pulsed drivers, driven components and controls, or individual subsystems. We will design the system for integration with the customer’s equipment and to meet requirements for target cost, operating environment, and safety code and certification.
The MAP I™ ion diode system plugs in and integrates with the customer’s ion beam surface treatment equipment both mechanically and electrically, as well as matching the aesthetic design. The combined system is capable of generating 400keV, 40kA, 100ns ion beams at repetition rates of 5 pulses per second.
Rapid-turnaround prototyping
APP will quickly build working hardware to prove a design and reveal engineering changes which will be needed in a commercial system. Custom research systems are built and tested in time to fit the overall program schedule.
Specialty instrumentation and controls
APP has standard controls for safe and coordinated operation of subsystems. The user is provided with a straightforward interface to the process controls. We have special instrumentation and data acquisition systems to measure the performance of pulsed power systems as well as the characteristics of plasma sources and ion diodes. When necessary, new devices are developed, such as our fast ionization gauge and controller which measures high-speed gas pressure pulses.
Computer-aided design, drafting and documentation
APP uses several software packages for circuit analysis, magnetic and electric field plotting, 2-D drafting, 3-D solid modeling, generation of schematics and bill of materials. We will provide the level of documentation and manuals required by the customer.
In-house epoxy vacuum casting and fabrication
Some coil assemblies require epoxy vacuum casting or are more cost effective as castings. We retain this fabrication technology in-house to minimize turnaround time and cost, and to maintain control of the process.