Development of 750 keV / 20 kW DC accelerator

The design and development aspects of Direct Current Electron Accelerator for industrial applications are presented in the paper. The design specifications of the accelerator are: voltage range of 300 kV to 750 kV and maximum beam power of 20 kW. The electron gun, acceleration column, focusing coil, high voltage multiplier stack, filament and bias power supplies are housed in a 1.5 m diameter and 3.2 m high, pressure vessel. The electron beam is scanned at a frequency of 100Hz. The scanning width can be varied from 500 mm to 1200 mm on the product. Using a titanium foil of 50 microns thickness, the beam can be extracted in air. The accelerating voltage is generated using a 15-stage balanced Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier circuit. A micro controller μC 8051 based system linked with a PC through RS232C serial communication is used to control and monitor different parameters of various sub systems. (author)