This dissertation presents theoretical and experimental results from a research program that was aimed at finding practical ways of transferring energy to various loads, mainly from an inductive energy store fluxed by a primary store such as a capacitor bank. The main obj ecti ves of the work were to investigate and develop high power opening and closing switches, together with the transfer circuits needed to generate the fast (less than lOOns duration) high energy, pulses required in many applications. The study was to include a feasibility study of the use of the Plasma Erosion Opening Switch (PEOS) in such a system. To produce the large fast pulses required, an opening switch is required that: * Carry a current of the order of several kA during the inductor storage time. It should also be able to interrupt this current and to withstand the high voltage it will experience as the current is subsequently transferred to a load. * Conduct for as long as possible (up to one quarter period of the current waveform), to maximise the inductively stored energy which can be transferred to xhe load when the switch opens. * Open to an impedance that is large compared to the load impedance . This ensures that most of the inductively stored energy is transferred to the load. Open sufficiently rapidly to produce the required sharp pulse of voltage. In pulsed-power applications, energy is usually supplied from slow and relatively inexpensive power sources such as a capacitor bank, or an explosive flux-compression generator, which deliver large quantities of energy in the lO-lOO time range. Although no single switch is currently available which has such a long conduction time, together with a nanosecond opening time, the PEOS is a potential candidate. To overcome its short conduction time, while still obtaining an opening time of less than lOOns, the PEOS is used together with an additional slower stage or stages of switching. The key to this method is that each successive switching stage produces a considerably increased voltage. Various different types of switch were investigated and these are described in the thesis. Particular consideration is paid to the performance of the PEOS, as the final conditioning stage. Exploding foils are also investigated, together with a novel Automatic Exploding Foil Change-Over Switch, since an exploding foil opening switch is needed to condition the output of the capacitor bank before the PEOS. The initial resistance of the PEOS is very low, and the change-over switch is required to ensure that the current transfer takes place when the voltage across the fuse approaches its peak value. An important part of the investigation was to develop a mathematical model of the PEOS, as a part of the power condi tioning circuit, in order to simulate the system for different load conditions. The thesis explains the design, operation and performance characteristics of the various pulsed-power components, such as capacitor banks, closing and opening switches, pulse transformer, the vacuum system required for a PEOS, and high voltage and current measurement techniques.

A major problem that arises in the inverter-fed induction motor drives is the inevitable introduction of harmonics into the alternating output voltage of the inverter. These harmonics, particularly the low order ones, produce harmful effects such as torque pulsations, excessive motor heating etc. Various techniques for controlling inverters have been proposed in order to reduce the harmonic content of the inverter output waveforms and to effect the voltage/frequency relationship for optimum utilisation of the motor. The latest forms of inverter control employ sinusoidal Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) for producing an AC supply with variable voltage and frequency.

To increase transmission capability and to improve transient stability of long distance transmission systems, use has been made of series capacitors and high-speed excitation systems. Unfortunately, their use has resulted in sub synchronous resonance (SSR) and reduced machine damping.

The work presented in this thesis is on the development of reliable low cost measurement systems for measuring microwave and millimetre-wave devices. The purpose of this work is to find techniques which use multiple power detectors and can measure magnitude and phase without the need for expensive superheterodyne receivers. Two novel microwave measurement systems have been designed with the intention of providing a measurement facility which enables the characterisation of both active and passive devices in terms of their scattering parameters. The first method is based on using a multistate reflectometer, which uses dielectric waveguide in the frequency range of 110GHz up to 170GHz. The dielectric multistate reflectometer is a four-port reflectometer, which uses a programmable phase shifter to give a flat relative phase shift over the entire frequency range of the dielectric waveguides used in the multistate reflectometer. The phase shifter has an eccentric rotating cylinder with an offset axis to allow a number of different phase shifts to the wave travelling in the dielectric waveguides in the multistate reflectometer. This system has been developed as an equivalent to a one-port network analyser. The second method is based on using the multi-probe reflectometer in which the standing wave in a line is measured using a number of fixed detector probes. A microstrip line prototype in the frequency range of 1GHz to 5.5GHz has been demonstrated and the design of a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) version for the frequency range of 40GHz to 325GHz has been earned out. Improved methods of calibration of the system have been derived as well as different methods for error correction. The realisation of a full two-port network analyser using the technique has been demonstrated. Key words: dielectric multistate reflectometer, programmable phase shifter, multi-probe reflectometer, detection, microwave measurement, millimetre-wave measurement, calibration, error corrections.

This thesis describes the research activities that have been investigated for improving the 3rd order intermodulation distortion products (IM3) and power added efficiency (PAE) and bandwidth performance of microwave GaAs MESFET power amplifiers. Two novel circuit techniques, one for improving the 3dB bandwidth performance and the other for improving the IM3 and PAE performance, were proposed and verified through simulation and practical measurements. The technique of including lumped elements matching networks within the package encapsulation (Close-to-Chip lumped element matching) of a 2GHz MESFET device is described for the first time. Simulation results showed that the amplifier using this technique had a 3dB bandwidth 3 times wider than the amplifier with Off-Chip distributed element matching. The linearity and efficiency performance of a 2GHz MESFET was improved significantly by presenting a difference frequency shunt short-circuit termination across the drain terminal. A 16dB reduction in IM3 and an improvement of 4% in PAE performance was measured on the bench. Success with this technique was further demonstrated with digitally modulated signals.

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The problems to be solved in this thesis were 1) development of a broadband RF preamplifier to be used with non-ferrous current probes so that the amplified signal exceeds the errors due to cable pickup, no detection is needed in this application, and 2) development of a self-contained device that amplifies and detects the output from a nonferrous current probe, providing a digital readout of the current. These instruments have been completed and are being tested for use by the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The self-contained current meter operates at frequencies up to 600 MHz, and detects currents as low as 8 mA . At these current magnitudes, the probe (pick-up coil) will output a voltage of 500μV (-53 dBm on 50Ω) which will have to be raised above 0 dBm. The final circuit uses a RF mixer as a variable attenuator in order to increase the dynamic range, two Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) for preamplification, a final broadband amplifier to raise the output compression point, a Schottky diode detector, a sample and hold circuit, and a liquid crystal digital panel meter.

This thesis presents a time domain finite element method for the solution of microwave heating problems. This is the first time that this particular technique has been applied to microwave heating. It is found that the standard frequency domain finite element method is unsuitable for analysing multimode applicators containing food-like materials due to a severe ill-conditioning of the matrix equations. The field distribution in multimode applicators loaded with low loss materials is found to be very sensitive to small frequency changes. Several solutions at different frequencies are therefore required to characterise the behaviour of the loaded applicator. The time domain finite element method is capable of producing multiple solutions at different frequencies when used with Gaussian pulse excitation; it is therefore ideally suited to the analysis of multimode applicators. A brief survey of the methods available for the solution of the linear equations is provided. The performance of these techniques with both the frequency domain and time domain finite element methods is then studied. Single mode applicators are also analysed and it is found that the frequency domain method is superior in these cases. Comparisons are given between the calculated results and experimental data for both single mode and multimode systems. The importance of experimental verification being stressed. The choice of element type is an important consideration for the finite element method. Three basic types of element are considered; nodal, Whitney edge elements and linear edge elements. Comparisons of the errors with these elements show that Whitney elements produce a consistently lower error when post-processing is used to smooth the solution. The coupled thermal-electromagnetic problem is investigated with many difficulties being identified for the application to multimode cavity problems.

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No description available.