Fast-closing vacuum valve for high-current particle accelerators

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A fast‐closing vacuum valve for a high‐current particle accelerator was fabricated and tested. The 51 mm (2 in) ball valve is located in the accelerator beamline and closes within 5 ms if a vacuum loss is detected in the beamline. The valve is activated by a pressure‐rise detector that initiates a capacitor bank to discharge its current through two solenoids. The impulse force closes the valve and activates an air‐powered, cam‐type mechanism. This mechanism forces a diaphragm equipped with an O‐ring housing against the ball valve to produce a high‐vacuum seal in the beamline. The valve functions reliably and is simple to reset after each firing. Only the metal energy absorbers, which are deformed during valve closure, require replacement. Another desirable feature of this valve is that its inner body contour is essentially symmetrical to the beamline. Thus, the magnetic field produced by the large return current is symmetrical and does not deflect the particle beam.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: