The component is part of a more efficient RF tube amplifier being developed at CERN in partnership with the European Spallation Source in Sweden
OCEM Power Electronics has supplied a component to a joint project between CERN and the European Spallation Source seeking to develop a more efficient high-power RF tube amplifier for particle acceleration.
The company’s capacitor charger is a high-voltage power supply that will feed an energy storage bank that powers the radio-frequency tube amplifier. The tube amplifier is being tested at CERN, also known as the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and will be reproduced at the ESS in Sweden if successful.
The tube — called the MB-IOT, or Multi Beam Inductive Output Tube — could also be adopted as part of a future upgrade to the CERN injector in Geneva.
Above: the capacitor charger OCEM created for CERN and the ESS
For the capacitor charger, OCEM had to design a solution that could support a large output voltage of 50 kV together with a large power level of 160 kW. The company successfully completed site acceptance tests earlier this year and has begun testing the machine at CERN.
OCEM is a long-time collaborator with CERN, having developed components for the world-famous research organization for the past 40 years.
Besides providing an experimental platform for CERN, the ESS will produce important research in its own right.
Neutron science is the “science of everyday life,” driving everything from development of new and better computer chips, batteries and other industrial products, to providing new insights and understanding into how the body works to invent new pharmaceuticals and medical therapies.
OCEM Power Electronics
Since 1943