U.S. Particle Accelerator School
course
Sponsoring University:
Michigan State University
Course:
Accelerator Power Electronics Engineering
Instructors:
Paul Bellomo and Fernando Rafael, SLAC National Accelerator Lab
Purpose and Audience
This course is an introduction to the field of accelerator power electronics and is suitable for undergraduate students or students from other fields. The course is also appropriate for engineers and technicians working in accelerator-related fields who wish to broaden their background.
Prerequisites
Completion of one or more courses in basic electronics and algebra. A working knowledge of calculus and some familiarity with the PSPICE and/or MATLAB circuit simulation programs are helpful.
It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they meet the course prerequisites or have equivalent experience.
Objectives
This course will focus on the fundamental principles of power electronics circuits and systems used in particle accelerators. The course avoids rigorous mathematical derivations. The instructors will present a theoretical understanding of the principals, through daily lectures, coupled with a practical implementation of some of the concepts through laboratory exercises.
Instructional Method
This course includes a series of lectures in the morning, followed by one or two afternoon laboratory sessions on related subject matter. Laboratory sessions will include computer simulations of power conversion circuits using PSPICE and or MATLAB. Students might be required to write and submit reports for the lab exercises. The instructors will assign additional problems, for completion outside of scheduled class time. The instructors will grade the problems and provide feedback in a timely fashion.
Course Content
The lectures begin with a brief historical development of power electronics for accelerators in past and present applications. The course covers the types of power electronics equipment typically used in accelerators to power magnets for beam shaping and control. The emphasis is on the specification of complete power systems for proper operation of, and matching to, magnet, capacitor, and klystron loads. Examined are circuits for DC magnet applications and pulsed power supplies for septum magnets, kicker magnets, and klystrons using pulse forming networks and newer, solid-state approaches. Reliability and power quality are important. Outlined are methods for availability improvement by component redundancy, input line voltage selection, power factor improvement, electromagnetic compatibility, harmonic distortion, basic feedback, control, and communications. Discussed are the concerns that address personnel and machine protection systems, interlocks and code compliance strategies.
The instructor will closely relate the one or two afternoon laboratory sessions to the subject matter in the lectures.
Reading Requirements
(to be provided by the USPAS) "Elements of Power Electronics" by Philip T. Krein, Oxford University Press, Copyright September 1997. Suggested reading (not mandatory) prior to the class: "Principles of Power Electronics", John Kassakian, published by Addison-Wesley or "Fundamentals of Power Electronics", S. Rama Reddy, published by Alpha Science.
Credit Requirements
The basis for student evaluations are performance; homework assignments (50% of final grade), computer/lab session(s) (20% of final grade), and a final exam (30% of final grade).
IU/USPAS course: Physics 671