Management of high current transients in the CWDD Injector 200 kV power system

The injector for the Continuous Wave Deuterium Demonstrator is designed to deliver a high current CW negative deuterium ion beam at an energy of 200 keV to a Radio Frequency Quadrupole. The injector comprises a volume ion source, triode accelerator, high-power electron traps and low-energy beam transport with a single focusing solenoid. Some 75 Joules of energy are stored in stray capacitance around the high voltage system and discharged in a few microseconds following an injector breakdown. In order to limit damage to the accelerator grids, a magnetic snubber is incorporated to absorb most of the energy. Nevertheless, large current transients flow around the system as a result of an injector breakdown; these have frequently damaged power components and caused spurious behavior in many of the supporting systems. The analytical and practical approaches taken to minimize the effects of these transients are described. Injector breakdowns were simulated using an air spark gap and measurements made using standard EMC test techniques. The power circuit was modeled using an electrical simulation code; good agreement was reached between the model and measured results