New power supply object of joint R&D agreement.STANFORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 1995--The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. has signed a cooperative agreement with North Star Research Corp. to develop a specialized type of power supply called a high-efficiency pulse modulator Modulator Any device or circuit by means of which a desired signal is impressed upon a higher-frequency periodic wave known as a carrier. The process is called modulation. The modulator may vary the amplitude, frequency, or phase of the carrier. . The primary use of these power supplies will be to power the microwave generators required for the Next Linear Collider col`lid´er n. 1. (Physics) a SLAC Student Labor Action Coalition SLAC Scapholunate Advanced Collapse (wrist disorder) SLAC Salt Lake Acting Company (Utah) SLAC Student Learning Assistance Center . With an expected efficiency of 90 percent, compared to 70 percent for existing designs, the new modulators could save the next generation particle accelerator particle accelerator, apparatus used in nuclear physics to produce beams of energetic charged particles and to direct them against various targets. Such machines, popularly called atom smashers, are needed to observe objects as small as the atomic nucleus in studies as much as $16 million worth of electricity annually. Conventional transformer-pulsed modulators like those now used at SLAC are well understood but are quite large and expensive. The new design is considerably smaller and less expensive, as well as more efficient. Such power supplies must deliver large voltages and currents (hundreds of thousands of volts, hundreds of amperes) in short, microsecond-long bursts hundreds of times per second. Similar power supplies have commercial applications in radar and as key components of electron accelerators used for detoxifying certain kinds of hazardous waste Hazardous waste Any solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. , for sterilization sterilization Any surgical procedure intended to end fertility permanently (see contraception). Such operations remove or interrupt the anatomical pathways through which the cells involved in fertilization travel (see reproductive system). of equipment and for radiotherapy. Lower-cost electron accelerators would speed the replacement of radioisotope-based radiotherapy systems. The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement “CRADA” redirects here. For other uses, see CRADA (disambiguation). A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is an agreement between a government agency and a private company to work together. between SLAC and North Star Research Corp. was signed on Dec. 12, 1994. The six-month joint project will receive a total funding of approximately $99,000 from the Department of Energy. The new power supply is based on a North Star design called the Nested High Voltage Generator. It consists of many DC power supplies connected in series but powered in parallel. The company has demonstrated that this design can generate 500-kilovolt, 80-amp pulses with 83 percent efficiency. As part of the joint project, North Star will upgrade its NHVG design to deliver 500-kilovolt, 220-amp pulses at an efficiency of greater than 90 percent. SLAC will design an electron gun needed to drive the microwave generator. North Star Research Corp. is a small business located in Albuquerque, N.M. Major activities of this company include design and production of pulsed power supplies. This is the first SLAC cooperative research and development agreement with an industrial partner supported by the Department of Energy's Small Business Technology Transfer program. CONTACT: Stanford News Service David F. Salisbury, 415/725-1944 |
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