Dr. Valentin Bolborici, assistant professor in electrical engineering, and one of his graduate students are working with engineers and contractors at the White Sands Missile Range to extend the operating range of a Marx high voltage pulse generator.
Marx generators are used to supply high voltage pulses to high power microwave tubes in order to generate high power microwave pulses.
“The pulse width of the high voltage pulses is determined by the construction of the generator and it is fixed,” explained Dr. Bolborici. “It is desired that one can generate high power microwave pulses with variable pulse width. We are working to modify an existing Marx generator in order to generate high voltage pulses with variable pulse width.” He said.
The UTEP pair will perform the analysis and simulations of the existing Marx generator and provide the solution and the design of the equipment that will be built and installed by the WSMR engineers and contractors.
With Dr. Bolborici’s work, the WSMR will be able to extend the test ranges.
Dr. Bolborici received $168, 600 grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory for the two-year project.