Battery powered tabletop pulsed neutron source based on a sealed miniature plasma focus device

Autor: L V Kulkarni, Parashuram Mishra, A M Rawool, Satish C. Gupta, R. K. Rout
Rok vydání: 2008
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. 41:205211
ISSN: 1361-6463
0022-3727
DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/41/20/205211
Popis: The development of a novel and portable tabletop pulsed neutron source is presented. It is a battery powered neutron tube based on a miniature plasma focus (PF) device having all metal-sealed components. The tube, fuelled with deuterium gas, generates neutrons because of D–D fusion reactions. The inner diameter and the length of the tube are 3.4 cm and 8 cm, respectively. A single capacitor (200 J, 4.0 µF, 10 nH) of compact size (17 cm × 15 cm × 13 cm, 6.5 kg) is used as the energy driver. A power supply system charges the capacitor to 10 kV in 10 s and also provides a 30 kV trigger pulse to the spark gap. An input of 24 V dc (7.5 A) to the power supply system is provided by two rechargeable batteries (each 12 V, 7.5 A, 20 h). The device has produced neutrons for 150 shots within a period of 120 days in a very reliable manner without purging the deuterium gas between the shots. For the first 50 shots, the average yield is (1.6 ± 0.3) × 106 neutrons/shot in 4π sr with a pulse width of 23.4 ± 3.3 ns. The estimated neutron energy is 2.47 ± 0.22 MeV. The neutron production reduces slowly and reaches the detection threshold value of 3 × 105 neutrons/shot towards the last shots. The device produces neutrons in a similar manner on evacuation and refilling. The height of the mounted PF tube with the capacitor and the spark gap is 35 cm. The complete setup comprising the capacitor with spark gap, the PF tube, the power supply system with two batteries and the control panel weighs only 23 kg.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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