On the Relationship Between the Electromagnetic Burst and Inductive Sensor Measurement of a Pulsed Plasma Accelerator

A remote and non-invasive diagnostic of the plasma focus using antennas is presented in this work. The main motivation is the application of such diagnostic in a miniaturized plasma accelerator, based on the plasma focus architecture, as a cube satellite thruster. The evaluation of this proposal was carried out measuring a hundred of joules plasma focus operation simultaneously with the inductive measurement and antennas. Three different antennas tuned in the ultra high frequency range were tested: a monopole, Vivaldi and helical. The high frequency transients detected with the antennas were time correlated to the known inductive measurement features. The initial dielectric breakdown and later plasma pinch and subsequent disruption (i.e. the source of the propulsion) were identified to be the principal phenomena to be detected. Signal parameter correlations between the inductive sensor and the antennas showed that the pinch phenomena can be correlated with the antenna signals. Good correlation results were obtained with the monopole antenna when using peak value and signal energy parameter from the antenna transient. An improvement in the correlation results, for the helical and Vivaldi antennas, was obtained when calculating the frequency band energy. In this case, the Vivaldi antenna achieved the best results. The results of the monopole antenna make it an alternative remote sensor for plasma focus, but for the application of a miniaturized plasma focus as pulsed plasma thruster, the Vivaldi antenna is a more feasible design to replace the inductive diagnostic due to its compact design in comparison to the monopole.

[1]  S. Falabella,et al.  Comparisons of dense-plasma-focus kinetic simulations with experimental measurements. , 2014, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[2]  Javier Sanz-Feito,et al.  Self-integrating inductive loop for measuring high frequency pulses. , 2011, The Review of scientific instruments.

[3]  José Alfredo Covolan Ulson,et al.  Behavior of an Inductive Loop Sensor in the Measurement of Partial Discharge Pulses with Variations in Its Separation from the Primary Conductor , 2018, Sensors.

[4]  L. Soto,et al.  Electromagnetic Burst Measurement System Based on Low Cost UHF Dipole Antenna , 2017 .

[5]  C. S. Wong,et al.  Scientific status of plasma focus research , 1998 .

[6]  M. Ghoranneviss,et al.  The effects of the cathode array on emitted hard x-ray from a small plasma focus device , 2017 .

[7]  James Mason,et al.  Results from the Planet Labs Flock Constellation , 2014 .

[8]  L. Soto.  New trends and future perspectives on plasma focus research , 2005 .

[9]  Leopoldo Soto,et al.  Morphological and structural effects on tungsten targets produced by fusion plasma pulses from a table top plasma focus , 2015 .

[10]  Rodrigo Escobar,et al.  Dense transient pinches and pulsed power technology: research and applications using medium and small devices , 2008 .

[11]  Jorge Feugeas,et al.  Optical emission spectroscopy of electrical focii discharges , 1997 .

[12]  Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki,et al.  A Comparison of Inductive Sensors in the Characterization of Partial Discharges and Electrical Noise Using the Chromatic Technique , 2018, Sensors.

[13]  E. Miller,et al.  Direct time-domain techniques for transient radiation and scattering from wires , 1980, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[14]  Atri Dutta,et al.  An Overview of Cube-Satellite Propulsion Technologies and Trends , 2017 .

[15]  M. V. Rojas-Moreno,et al.  Antenna selection and frequency response study for UHF detection of partial discharges , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference Proceedings.

[16]  V. Tang,et al.  Ion beam and neutron output from a sub-kilojoule dense plasma focus , 2014 .

[17]  J. Mather.  15. Dense Plasma Focus , 1971 .

[18]  H. Bruzzone,et al.  The effect of transmission lines and switching action on the electrical signals in a powerful capacitive discharge , 1990 .

[19]  Luis Orellana,et al.  Hard X-Ray Emission Detection Using Deep Learning Analysis of the Radiated UHF Electromagnetic Signal From a Plasma Focus Discharge , 2019, IEEE Access.

[20]  Alejandro Clausse,et al.  Evidence of nuclear fusion neutrons in an extremely small plasma focus device operating at 0.1 Joules , 2017 .

[21]  L. Soto,et al.  Studies on scalability and scaling laws for the plasma focus: similarities and differences in devices from 1 MJ to 0.1 J , 2010 .

[22]  Alejandro Clausse,et al.  A simple plasma diagnostic based on processing the electrical signals from coaxial discharges , 2006 .

[23]  Cristian Pavez,et al.  Hundred joules plasma focus device as a potential pulsed source for in vitro cancer cell irradiation , 2017 .

[24]  B Rusnak,et al.  Design and initial results from a kilojoule level Dense Plasma Focus with hollow anode and cylindrically symmetric gas puff. , 2014, The Review of scientific instruments.

[25]  José Moreno,et al.  Observation and interpretation of neutron origin prior to hard X rays and pinch in a hundred joules plasma focus device , 2017 .

[26]  J. Lilly.  Element analysis: a wavelet-based method for analysing time-localized events in noisy time series , 2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

[27]  Donald G. Pellinen,et al.  A picosecond risetime high voltage divider , 1974 .

[28]  Leopoldo Soto,et al.  Observation of plasma jets in a table top plasma focus discharge , 2015 .

[29]  A. Clausse,et al.  Stray Capacitance in a Plasma Focus Device: Implications on the Current Derivative Calibration and the Effective Discharge Current , 2017 .

[30]  JOHN D. KRAUSt,et al.  Helical Beam Antennas for Wide-Band Applications * , 2022 .

[31]  Alejandro Clausse,et al.  Characterization of the axial plasma shock in a table top plasma focus after the pinch and its possible application to testing materials for fusion reactors , 2014 .

[32]  A. Serban,et al.  Dimensions and lifetime of the plasma focus pinch , 1996 .

[33]  A. E. Dangor,et al.  The past, present, and future of Z pinches* , 2000 .

[34]  Javier Sanz-Feito,et al.  Inductive Sensor for Measuring High Frequency Partial Discharges Within Electrical Insulation , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[35]  Marcos E. Orchard,et al.  New opportunities offered by Cubesats for space research in Latin America: The SUCHAI project case , 2016 .

[36]  Yan Shen,et al.  Space micropropulsion systems for Cubesats and small satellites: from proximate targets to furthermost frontiers , 2018 .

[37]  G Robles,et al.  Separation of sources in radiofrequency measurements of partial discharges using time-power ratio maps. , 2015, ISA transactions.

[38]  Jordi Puig-Suari,et al.  CubeSat: A New Generation of Picosatellite for Education and Industry Low-Cost Space Experimentation , 2000 .

[39]  Marcelo Zambra,et al.  Correlations Among Neutron Yield and Dynamical Discharge Characteristics Obtained from Electrical Signals in a 400 J Plasma Focus , 2012 .

[40]  G. Robles,et al.  Ageing study on enameled magnet wires through statistical analysis of conventional partial discharge magnitudes and repetition rate , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Dielectrics (ICD).

[41]  M. V. Rojas-Moreno,et al.  On the use of Vivaldi antennas in the detection of partial discharges , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Conference on Solid Dielectrics (ICSD).

[42]  G. Gerdin,et al.  OBSERVATION OF MICROWAVE EMISSION FROM A PLASMA FOCUS AT FREQUENCIES WELL BELOW THE MEAN PLASMA FREQUENCY , 1986 .

[43]  L. Soto,et al.  Neutron emission from a fast plasma focus of 400 Joules , 2003 .

[44]  Constantine A. Balanis,et al.  Antenna theory: a review , 1992, Proc. IEEE.

[45]  J. Puig-Suari,et al.  Development of the standard CubeSat deployer and a CubeSat class PicoSatellite , 2001, 2001 IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.01TH8542).

[46]  E. S. Gillespie,et al.  IEEE Standard Definitions of Terms for Antennas , 1993 .

[47]  G. Robles,et al.  Partial discharge and noise separation by means of spectral-power clustering techniques , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[48]  Marcelo Zambra,et al.  Potentiality of a small and fast dense plasma focus as hard x-ray source for radiographic applications , 2012 .

[49]  Rodrigo Capobianco Guido,et al.  A tutorial on signal energy and its applications , 2016, Neurocomputing.

[50]  L. Soto,et al.  Demonstration of neutron production in a table-top pinch plasma focus device operating at only tens of joules , 2008 .