A bilateral power supply with energy storage buffer for the superconductive coils of large particle accelerators

Considerable development and testing on the active control of current in superconducting coils using DC-AC-DC thyristor convertor networks with superconductive magnetic energy storage has been completed. The charging and discharging cycles of the magnet are decoupled from the power grid, and since these networks are asynchronous with the line, operation at any practical frequency for the switching devices is possible. These systems avoid putting large power bumps on the utility grid during charging and discharging, eliminate phase related noise on other 60 Hz converter systems, and reduce the size of magnet ripple. Operation and design of thyristor networks in closed-loop feedback with variable phase and frequency modes are discussed. Techniques for switching operation at one phase and frequency to another are described. Operating data on a bang-bang controller for 100 A.. 4 Hy. load and storage coils is given