ANDREW'S PROJECT SUMMARY

Description:
One of the first projects I received was the requirement for a replacement of an ageing trigger unit used during JET operation to close high current capacity switches.

The unit would send out a current pulse of some duration and peak to an inductive load that would allow air pistons to move and physically close the switch.

Objectives:
The task was split into the following:
Reverse engineer the existing unit, finding values for the output current pulse duration and peak, and determine if this met the actual requirement.

Re-engineer the control circuits to comply with modern safety rules, including additional monitoring for fault diagnosis, and reduction in stored energy that would be a hazard to any maintenance team.

Install as prototype and test extensively, as once installed failure would result in loss of a JET pulse.

Comments:
This was an interesting project as I was leading the design myself, something that I had not done up to this point. Timescales and budgets were now an important factor and needed planning. Testing was an important part of this work, as the completed design would be installed for JET operation where it would be operated by the JET control system every pulse. This was a great project to deploy good design principles.