Technical solutions for the control and command system of a Plasma Focus device

The paper presents the technical problems related to the electrical control and command system (ECC system) for the plasma focus installation IPF-4/5A having the following main parameters: 1 MA plasma current and 40 kJ energy stored at 20 kV charging voltage. The ECC system applies 23 interlocked logical commands, acquires and processes 28 logical states, acquires, processes and displays continuously the main slow-varying signals coming from IPF-4/5A subassemblies. All the plasma focus installation operational sequences are governed by strict hard and soft interlocking using in parallel two control and command systems: one based on PC-control methods and another based on classical control techniques. (author)