Abstract
The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) has been in operation since 2006 and routinely operates at 1 MW of beam power. At 1 MW, the High Voltage Converter Modulators (HVCMs) are delivering 8-11 MW pulsed power to the Klystrons for up to 1185 us at 60 Hz. The pulsed output of the modulator has a substantial voltage droop operating in open-loop mode. Achieving 1.4 MW operations require an increase in the output pulse width of the HVCM, resulting in loss of LLRF control margin due to modulator voltage reduction at the end of the pulse. Initially, the HVCM was designed with a pulse width modulation scheme for droop compensation but early operations at full duty revealed this technique unreliable. Increasing the output voltage of the modulator would likely compromise system reliability. This paper proposes the use of alternate modulation schemes to address the voltage droop. The effect of frequency modulation and phase modulation on voltage droop is studied. Experimental results will also be presented.
