Energy storage device
AssigneeThe Titan Corporation
InventorCharles H. Stallings
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device uses a single inductor or a series of inductors to initially store energy. A series of opening switches are placed in the circuit with approximately equal inductance between each of the switches. Conducting leads are attached on either side of each opening switch and attached to the load at the other end. Each lead may have a blocking device such as a spark gap or diode to keep current from flowing in the load circuit when the leads are connected to the load. When the switches are all opened approximately simultaneously, the current in the storage inductor is transferred to the load with a voltage characteristic of the load and/or the opening time of the switches.
Claims15
A method for producing pulsed power comprising:
- closing at least two switches, said switches magnetically coupled to a first wire wrapped a plurality of turns around a toroid and said switches dividing said first wire into a plurality of first wire segments;
- passing electrical current through said first wire thereby causing energy to be stored in a resultant magnetic field;
- and
- actuating simultaneously said switches to increase the impedance of the portions of said first wire segments adjacent to said switches causing a pulse of said stored energy to flow from each of said portions of said first wire segments.
A method for producing power comprising:
- providing an inductor;
- charging said inductor with a current to store energy in a magnetic field of the inductor;
- and
- opening a plurality of switches so as to electrically isolate a plurality of segments of the inductor and electrically discharge such segments in parallel.
A method for operating an opening switch device for increasing the impedance of a portion of a first conductor comprising:
- providing a ferromagnetic core encircling the first conductor overwrapped by a plurality of turns of a second conductor;
- directing a charging current through the first conductor effective to at least partially saturate the ferromagnetic core;
- and
- directing a trigger current through the second conductor effective to drive the ferromagnetic core out of said at least partial saturation and thereby increase the impedance of a section of the first conductor encircled by the ferromagnetic core by a factor of at least ten.
A method for producing pulsed power comprising:
- passing electrical current through a conductor forming a winding of at least one inductor, the conductor being disposed through a plurality of ferromagnetic cores;
- increasing permeability of each of the ferromagnetic cores relative to the conductor to increase impedance in sections of the conductor proximate the ferromagnetic cores;
- and
- diverting electric current in portions of the conductor between the sections of the conductor to a load after increasing the impedance in the sections of the conductor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.