U.S. Particle Accelerator School
Accelerator Power Electronics Engineering course
Sponsoring University:
UC Santa Cruz
Course:
Accelerator Power Electronics Engineering
Instructor:
Paul Bellomo and Jim Sebek, SLAC
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 linear algebra. Working knowledge of calculus and some familiarity with the PSPICE circuit simulation program 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 instructor will present a theoretical understanding of the principals,
through daily lectures, coupled with a practical implementation 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
will write and submit lab reports for the lab exercises. The instructor will assign
additional problems, for completion outside of scheduled class time. The instructor 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 and their 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,
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 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 sessions (20 % of final grade), and a final exam (30% of final
grade).
IU/USPAS course number P671