John F Zumdieck

49980394, Mar 5, 1991

Sep 29, 1989

7/414918

William J. Thayer - Kent WA
Chung-Hing Lo - Bellevue WA
John F. Zumdieck - Bellevue WA

Amoco Corporation - Chicago IL

H01J 1726
H01S 3097

31323141

A very compact flow loop for circulating gas through a pulsed laser or other pulsed discharge device is disclosed. An apparatus, having greater resistance to flow and shock wave propagation in the upstream direction, preferentially converts energy from the pulsed discharge residue into flow energy and causes flow through the discharge region in the desired downstream direction. The large available work in the discharge residue lets the efficiency of the conversion apparatus be very low and yet still provide sufficient flow power to circulate gas for purging a conventional flow loop without using a separate input of power to drive the purge flow. Moderate conversion efficiency provides sufficient flow power to allow compact, high loss components to be used for a very compact flow loop with no external flow circulation power and no rotating components.

H8788, Jan 1, 1991

Jun 30, 1986

6/880219

Rodney A. Petr - Euless TX
Mark J. Kushner - Bellevue WA
John F. Zumdieck - Bellevue WA

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air
Force - Washington DC

H01J 1748

313 589

A high voltage linear switch assembly is disclosed that uses a hollow quartz tube as the insulator, and houses the anode, cathode and switch within the insulator tube. The anode and cathode are fixed within the tube on opposite sides so that they do not make physical contact with each other. A chamber filled with either hydrogen or helium and a metal electrode screen act as the switch as follows. By separating the anode from the cathode the gas filled chamber normally acts as an open circuit. When a charge is conducted by the metal electrode screen, the gas in the chamber is ionized and provides a medium to provide electrical contact between the anode and the cathode.