Projects
The Thermal Test Complex, operated by Sandia Labs, Albuquerque, provides various thermal testing environments, including Radiant Heat, Liquid Fuel and Gas Fuel fire testing. This one of a kind facility was commissioned in 2005, and continues to serve as the premier thermal testing facility in the United States today.
The Thermal Test Complex hosts three primary test cells that can field radiant heat, liquid fuel (JP-8, Methanol, etc.), and Gas Fuel (Hydrogen, Methane) fire environments. Actual vertical and horizontal driven fires provide scientists with a better understanding of heat and fire behavior, which leads to better designs of various weapons and other components
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The Mykonos Linear Transformer Driver (LTD) pulse power accelerator, developed in collaboration with a number of other institutions in the global Pulse Power community, is a 1MV, 1MAmp repetitive pulse power accelerator operated by Sandia Labs, Albuquerque.
The LTD technology replaces conventional Marx generator and pulse forming accelerator technology, by combining parallel configured capacitive ‘cavities’ with a simplified voltage adder design. Moreover, the Mykonos LTD accelerator allows for rep-rated pulsing up to four (4) times per second.
The result is a more compact, versatile pulse power accelerator, costing a fraction of more conventional pulse power accelerators, which require large oil and deionized water tanks.
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The Z Accelerator at Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque is said to be “the most powerful and efficient laboratory radiation source” available for radiation affects testing. As such, it is also considered to be Sandia’s ‘flag-ship’ pulse power accelerator. The facility was designed around 36 marx generator banks, intermediate storage capacitors, and associated pulse forming lines; each feeding high energy pulses into magnetically insulated transmission lines.
Each of the 36 Intermediate storage capacitors are essentially a cylinder within a cylinder, each containing approximately 1000 gallons of deionized water. To support proper operation of the intermediate storage capacitors, a deionizing and purification system was designed and fielded to continuously circulate thousands of gallons of deionized water, while maintaining desired resistivity.
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