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The meat grinder: Theoretical and practical limitations

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Magnetics · April 1984

DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.1984.1063078 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 PROOF OF P R I N C I P L E E X P E R I M E N T OF T H E M E A T G R I N D E R : AN INDUCTIVE
ENERGY STORAGE AND TRANSFER CIRCUIT
D. Giorgi~ K. L i n d n e r , J. Long, T. N a v a p a n i c h , O. Z u c k e r
E n e r g y C o m p r e s s i o n R e s e a r c h Corp.
2 0 4 3 De M a y o Rd.~ Del Mar Ca. 9 2 0 1 4

ABSTRACT switching out the i n d u c t a n c e s L:L t h r o u g h

L~, f i n a l l y leaving only L~,~, and LLOA~) i n
The MEATGRI NDER, an induct ive the circuit. The transfer is
s t o r a g e and e n e r g y transfer circuit~ has a c c o m p l i s h e d by closing $2 and o p e n i n g
been d e s c r i bed i n previous S,, a l l o w i n g t h e current in the first
p u b l i c a t i o n s j.- ~;~.:~;. The MEATGRINDER loop t o decay and transfer most o f t h e
circuit directly t r a n s f e r s e n e r g y between e n e r g y a s s o c i a t e d w i t h L~0 t o t h e r e s t o f
a s t o r a g e i n d u c t o r and an u n c o u p l e d load the circuit through t h e mutual c o u p l i n g .
inductor at an efficiency greater than Next, s w i t c h S~,: i s c l o s e d and $2 opened
the convent i onal 25% transfer t o t r a n s f e r t h e e n e r g y a s s o c i a t e d w i t h L:.~
efficiency. This paper describes an to the remai n i ng inductances. This
experiment which v e r i f i e s the predicted swi t c h i ng process c o n t i nues unti I the
behaviour of t h e MEATGRINDER c i r c u i t and i n d u c t a n c e s L:, - L4 have been switched
demonstrates an energy transfer out. Although there is zero coupling to
e f f i c i e n c y of 4 7 . 5 % . the load, this switching process
p r o g r e s s i vel y i ncreases the ci rcui t
c u r r e n t and t h e r e b y t h e l o a d e n e r g y .

INTRODUCTION Since the final energy resides in

both L..~ and LLoOAZ), L...~ must be smal I
For the conventional transfer of compared t o t h e l o a d so t h a t most o f t h e
e n e r g y between t w o u n c o u p l e d i n d u c t o r s by transferred energy will be i n the load.
direct switching (without the aid of I t has been p r e v i o u s l y shown i t h a t i n t h e
capacitors, masses, e t c . ) , a maximum o f I i mi t as the number of swi t c h i ng
only 25% t h e initial energy of the operations goes to infinity and the
ci rcui t can be transf ered. The switched out inductance increments are
MEATGRINDER c i r c u i t , an i n d u c t i v e e n e r g y made i n f i n i t e s i m a l l y small, a theoretical
storage and transfer system whi ch has transfer efficiency of 1 0 0 % can be
been d e s c r i b e d i n p r e v i o u s p a p e r s ;.=~, has achi eyed, p r o v i ded there ex. i s t s some
been shown theoretically to exceed t h e coup I i ng between the inductance
conventional limit and in the limit e l ement s.
approach 100% efficiency. This paper
describes a Proof of Principle experiment
w h i c h was designed to d e m o n s t r a t e ~50%
transfer efficiency at low e n e r g y l e v e l s DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
confirming the theoretical predictions
set forth in the referenced papers. A d e s i g n f o r a f o u r - s t e p MEATGRINDER
c o i l and l o a d was d e v e l o p e d which would
y i el d a current mul t i p l i c a t i on from
initial to final current of ~3.0 times.
BACKGROUND I t was assumed t h a t a d e s i g n h a v i n g e q u a l
efficiency per step w o u ld yield good
The method of o p e r a t i on of the resul ts. Our p r e l i mi n a r y d e s i gn was
MEATGR I NDER c i r cuit c an be seen by d e v e l o p e d w i t h an e f f i c i e n c y of 90% p e r
examining the four-step circuit pictured s t e p f o r an o v e r a l l e f f i c i e n c y o f (.97 4 =
in f i g u r e 1. I n i t i a l l y , the MEATGRINDER 66%. The 1cad c o n n e c t i on previ ousl y
i n d u c t o r Lo i s e n e r g i z e d with the load discussed (decompression s w i t c h } carries
isolation switch (decompression switch} an a d d i t i o n a l 0.9 penalty reducing the
So c l o s e d . Subsequentl y, switch S,:.-, i s overall efficiency t o ( . 9 ) 4 * . 9 = 59%.
opened, p u t t i n g t h e l o a d i n the circuit
with its attendant energy t r a n s f e r and The 59% e f f i c i e n c y was d e t e r m i n e d t o
d i s s i p a t i on. Next, the energy i n the be obtainable given the performance
MEATGR I NDER storage col I L,:, i s constraints ( t h e number o f s t e p s chosen~
transferred t o t h e l o a d by sequentially current multiplication, etc. ) and
fullfills the experimental objective of
~50% e f f i c i e n c y . This computer-generated
design~ however, included non-integer
t u r n s f o r each of the four steps of the
coil. Due to expediency and p r a c t i c a l
considerations (finite available wire
size~ using integer number of turns~
L," L~ -- L3~ - - L,,..,I ~.,
etc. ), the col 1 was wound with a
different number o f t u r n s t h a n t h e d e s i g n
spec i f i e d . A new 1cad inductor was
d e s i g n e d t o a c h i e v e t h e same c u r r e n t g a i n
(~3.0) with t h e c o n s t r u c t e d MEATGRINDER
col I and a computer anal y s i s was
performed using the actual number of
F i g u r e i. B a s i c f o u r s t e p M E A T G R I N D E R with turns. With t h e same c o n s t r a i n t s on the
uncoupled load inductor. number of steps and current

295
 multiplication, the new d e s i g n gave a adding, and parallel subtracting (see
predicted e~iciency o~ 49%. I t s h o u l d be ~ i g u r e 3 ) . The i n d u c t a n c e was measured i n
noted t h a t with the proper choice o~ each o~ t h e s e c o n f i g u r a t i o n s g i v i n g ~our
wire, the predicted e~iciency can be independent measurements o~ t h e mutual
realized in practice. inductance. The mutual i n d u c t a n c e was
then taken t o be t h e a v e r a g e o~ these
The i n d u c t a n c e and r e s i s t a n c e v a l u e s ~our measurements.
and t h e g e o m e t r y o~ the designed coils
are given i n F i g u r e 2a a l o n g with the The schematic o~ t h e experimental
measured i n d u c t a n c e s and resistances o~ circuit is given in ~igure 4. The
t h e completed coi I s . The measured v a l u e s switches shown are composed o~ the
compare w e l l with the designed v a l u e s . ~ol I owing e l ements | 1) a TMOS s w i t c h
The t o t a l MEATGRINDER c o i l i n d u c t a n c e was r a t e d t o handle the anticipated currents
measured t o be 3.2&5 mh and the load t o be g e n e r a t e d i n t h e l o o p s , 2) a d i o d e
i n d u c t a n c e was measured a t . 180 mh. The in series with the TMOS t o p r e v e n t t h e
~ive i nductors L z - L.~ t h a t make up t h e i n t e r n a l TMOS d i o d e ~rom bypassing the
MEATGRI NDER c o i I are r a d i a l 1y stacked charging circuit, 3) a 15v z e n e r ~rom t h e
w i t h a m i n o r r a d i u s o~ 15 cm and b u i l d o~ gate t o d r a i n t o prevent a voltage spike
3 . 4 cm (see ~ i g u r e 2 b ) . c a u s i n g breakdown i n the g a t e - d r a i n path
(20v maximum t r i g g e r s i g n a l ) , ; and 4) a
To measure t h e mutual i n d u c t a n c e s i n constant vol rage resistor (CVR) in
t h e MEATGRINDER, each p a i r o~ the ~ive p a r a l l e l w i t h t h e TMOS t o i ) p r o t e c t t h e
MEATGRINDER i n d u c t o r s were connected in TMOS and ii ) provi de the vol rage to
~our d i ~~e r e n t connect ions" series reduce the current in t h e d e c a y i n g loop.
adding: series subtracting, parallel

'" DESIONED MEASURED

INDUCTANCE mATRIX 6 q H ) INDUCTANCE MATRIX (X~ H)
7q /~ Ot 339.6 170 ~oq.v 78.q~I ADD IN SERIES SUBTRACT IN SERIES
07 3~S leZ Ill
i zqz 161 q&6 67.5 z88.~ i~6 q~.6 65". ° L, Lz. , LI I n

"P,"~,","A___,'Y'Y'Y"/%...... •__~"r'EY'Y%_.__:~",3 '""L..._.

Ill 68.7 ~-7.7[ q7,5 61.8 ¥ P-"?'l
LT = L 1 + L 2 • 2M LT = L 1 + L 2 - 2M
3L~ 35.0~

P.,ESISTAIxICEMATPJK R.E.q ISTANCE /~ATRIX ADD IN PARALLEL SUBTRACT IN PARALLEL

'~ ' q l • L, ~ L,
.= c.,"Y","v"~_.., ... ," Y ~ ,"~_

5,91 I
-I ,
L.j%~,(y'v-,
L z
.j
-] L~_
L_.~%,%,-',~f,...._ l
,. i

LSZ~ L 1L 2 - L 1L 2 - M2
LT = L 1 + L 2 - 2M L T = L 1 + L 2 + 2M
L,o.,~ = I 5 0 a H , ~,~,o "= IO.g,~.n. L,o,0 = 1 8 0 a ~ , R,~b 5;.5",,~2.

Figure 2a. ~:/~pL~.- L1 L2 Ms+ M s- M I1 + Mtt -

spacers for Cross-section of 501 54.6 109.2 111.3 Iii.i 108 ~H
voltage holding =.5mm MEATGRINDER Coil
F i g u r e 3. T h e f o u r configurations of e a c h
] p a i r of i n d u c t a n c e s L .... L 5 used to
measure the mutual inductances.
minor radius :15cm i
4

centerline--j L, Lz - - k~/ ='-- L~, u.s

1

t ,i i
I - "' I

STEP N OR I RO TURtI~ TOT T TOT L2 CUR K

@ 5.0~-03 1.56E-01 6.57E*@0 6.59E~¢G 2.:7E-~5 1.~9E+~2 .gOE-9~
1 ~.6~E-93 1.62E-61 8.19E+0~ 1.69E+01 l.t~E-~ 9.@5E+01 9.13E-81
2 6.~E-~] 1.69E-~1. 1.17E+01 ".6~E+01 3.~5E-@4 ~.29E+01 8.80E-01
3 ~ ~,E-~3 1 77E-g1 1 ?TE+Ot ; 6ZE+~I ,.9~-~3 5 11E+01 8 52E-01
90&E-@3 I B6E-01 3.76E*et 8 38E+01 3.6~E-03 13E+~1 ~ ~=-RI

~TEF # Lt LOAD ~.' R L/R TMOS w i t h ~ DIODE

0 .~OE+@O .@0E+09 3.99E-93 ~.63E-03 2. 3E+~6 L internal~ k J
diode r-'~ i UVR (Constant
2 7.83E-0~ Q.Y~E~01 9.7~E-~3 8.4~E-03 2.73E*~6
DETAILED "~i ,'--'--I voltage
reslstor

Figure 2b. ZE]~ER iA

. I _L J

F i g u r e 2. a) d e s i g n e d and measured inductance

and resistance values, b) g e o m e t r y of t h e F i g u r e 4. The circuit setup for the experi.
designed MEATGRINDER coil showing a radial mental MEATGRINDER and load coils with a
cross-section and values for the radius, detailed schematic of t h e s w i t c h e s used and
n u m b e r of t u r n s , i n d u c t a n c e s , resistances, the typical I-V characteristics of t h e
coupling, and etc. CVRs.
i

296
 A parallel TMOS-CVR c o m b i n a t i o n was The computer code model of the
used since the combination is easily MEATGRINDER c i r c u i t includes the circuit
c o n t r o l Ied and has a wel I d e f i ned resi stances, d i ode drops and switch
characteristic during the current decay characteristics. The code results were
regime ( i i n e a r c u r r e n t decay r a t h e r t h a n o b t a i ned using the actual measured
e x p o n e n t i a l ). For our experiment, we resistances and i n d u c t a n c e s and a model
used TMOS r a t e d f r o m 10 to 5 0 amps. The f o r t h e a c t u a l s w i t c h e s used. Since t h i s
swi t c h t i m i n g (short-bef ore-open act i on circuit model includes resistive losses,
of the switches) was c o n t r o l led by a we expect the current and energy
timing circuit. Each s w i t c h i n g o p e r a t i o n t r a n s f e r r e d p r e d i c t e d by t h i s code t o be
was i n i t i a t e d when the current in the iess than that predicted by the
p r e v i ousl y swi t c h e d - o u t inductor had "lossless", final value calculations. In
decayed t o z e r o . f i gure 5, the currents measured
e x p e r i m e n t a l l y are seen to be s l i g h t l y
higher than p r e d i c t e d by the computer
code. This implies that the actual
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS mutual coupl i n g s are hi gher than the
a v e r a g e o f t h e f o u r measurements we used
T h e f o u r - s t e p , s e q u e n t i a l ly s w i t c h e d ( f i g u r e 2 ) . Examining t h e a c t u a l c o u p l i n g
M E A T G R I N D E R w a s set up as s h o w n in f i g u r e measurements showed that the series
4 w i t h t h e l o a d coil s e t p e r p e n d i c u l a r t o measurements Ms+ and Ms- a r e c o n s i s t a n t l y
t h e M E A T G R I N D E R coil t o i n s u r e n o mutual h i g h e r than the p a r a l l e l measurements and
coupling. T h i s w a s v e r i f i e d by m e a s u r i n g c o n s e q u e n t l y a r e p r o b a b l y more a c c u r a t e .
the mutual inductance between the load
coil a n d Lo.
In figure 6, the experimental
Initially, t h e c o i l was c h a r g e d w i t h
results for the cummula t i ve energy
a battery to a current of 15.8A and
transferred t o t h e l o a d i n each s t e p is
i ntial e n e r g y Wo o f 409 mJ. The c u r r e n t
shown. This i s compared to the final
in the l o a d as a f u n c t i o n of time is
value predictions and t o the computer
shown i n f i gure 5 compared with the
circuit code r e s u l t s . An e n e r g y t r a n s f e r
current p r e d i c t e d by a computer circuit
o f 47.5% was e x p e r i m e n t a l l y d e m o n s t r a t e d ,
code and the current expected in a
an improvement a l m o s t d o u b l e t h a t o f the
" i ossl ess" (no coi I resistance) case.
maximum transfer efficiency of the
The d a t a for the " l o s s l ess" case was
f o u n d by determining the current after c o n v e n t i o n a l opening s w i t c h t r a n s f e r .
each swi t c h i ng o p e r a t i on by use of a
final value calculation. These
c a i c u l a t i ons treated the MEATGRI NDER
circuit as a purely inductive network EXPEE;MENTAL
w i t h no r e s i s t i v e l o s s e s and a c c o u n t for C UHMULATIVK
ENERGy [ - - ' - ' l raEoR~-T,~.^L(~o~S-~ss:
the swi t c h i ng Iosses only. For a TP,A N S ~ E R E b
detailed discussion of the "I ossl ess" TO LOAD
G~orr~al i~¢&
case, see r e f e r e n c e "3 ~. ~0 ;nit;al P_O~
×
\/
0N
o ..%. 2. 3
final value "lossless" DECoMPRES~;mN STEP NOM~E,q,
/ " --I 46.4A peak
A
• / i ~ ./
F i g u r e 6. C u m m u l a t i v e e n e r g y t r a n s f e r r e d
. / (resistive)\ ! r~D~r-~ i ; , :
to the l o a d a f t e r e a c h s w i t c h i n g step.
~ .......................... - . J ~ ? . h _ , sw'itching" step ...... } T h e p e r c e n t transferr~ed ( n o r m a l i z e d to
t h e i n i t i a l e n e r g y ) is 4 7 . 5 % .

•" 2nd switching step ! i i A p o t e n t i a l problem concerning the

MEATGRINDER c o i I is that high voltages

15. I
may

operations.
be induced in the

This is possible since

p r e v i ousl y
s w i t c h e d - o u t l o o p s due t o l a t e r s w i t c h i n g
the
Ii.e (SEC) number of turns increases toward the
e a r l i er switched out inductances. One
s o l u t i o n i s t o put the opening switches

; iiiii-.,,..[ in s e r i e s w i t h the inductances, but they

! Ilmlll ,llllllll l
must have I ow on resi stance. The

Innmmrllmlmmi c u r r e n t in l o a d
(e x p e r i m e n t a l )
approach used i n t h i s e x p e r i m e n t
CVR's i n p a r a l l e l
placed
w i t h t h e TMOS c l a m p i n g
t h e v o l t a g e a c r o s s t h e TMOS. Any induced
v o l t a g e , t h e n , i s clamped t o not exceed
t h e s w i t c h i n g v o l t a g e of t h a t step (which
by d e f i n i t i o n t h e s w i t c h and t h e circuit
TIME --~ can t o l e r a t e ) . This effect is shown in
Figure 7 f o r one such s t e p . For each
F i g u r e 5. C u r r e n t in t h e l o a d c o m p a r e d to the s t e p , a comparison of the current with
f i n a l v a l u e " l o s s l e s s " and c o m p u t e r c o d e and w i t h o u t t h e CVR's i n t h e s w i t c h e d o u t
(including resistive losses) predictions. back Ioops was performed and y i e l ded

297
 in b a c k
tout s ' ° illllllllll
loops
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

lmn,lmmmmmmmm,
-- The a u t h o r s would like t o express
t h e i r t h a n k s and t o acknowledge t h e e a r l y
ov s I l l i H l / l l l l i s u p p o r t and encouragements o f P e t e r Kemmy
and Ted Gora o f ARRADCOM; W i l l i a m Baker:
John Gener osa, Art Gunther, and R.
R e i n o v s k y o f AFWL; Tom M a r t i n , B i l l Cowan,
and Bobby Turman of Sandia; and Henry
F i g u r e 7. The v o l t a g e in a b a c k loops w i t h Pugh o f AFOSR.
and w i t h o u t a C o n s t a n t V o l t a g e R e s i s t o r
(CVR) in p a r a l l e l w i t h the switch. W i t h the We would a l s o I i ke to acknowlege
CVR, the v o l t a g e is c l a m p e d to the s w i t c h Pacific S i e r r a Research Corp. f o r their
voltage. part i n the c o n s t r u c t i on of the
MEATGRINDER and l o a d c o i l s .

In particular, we would like to

thank P r o f e s s o r Norman R o s t o k e r f o r his
i dent i cal results f or current critical r e v i e w and e a r l y s u p p o r t o f the
multiplication. Identical results have MEATGRINDER c o n c e p t and Professor Amnon
been shown t h e o r e t i c a l l y . For example, F i s h e r f o r h i s s u p p o r t on the technical
in figure 8 the c u r r e n t in the load w i t h end o f t h e p r o b l e m .
and w i t h o u t t h e CVR's in parallel with
t h e s w i t c h e s f o r one such s w i t c h i n g step
i s shown. It i s seen that the 1oad
c u r r e n t r i s e s t o t h e same f i n a l v a l u e f o r
Ref e r e n c e s
the voltage chosen. For a di f f erent
chosen v o l t a g e , the same transfer time
1. 0. Zucker and a. Long, "The
c o u l d have been achieved. The c u r r e n t
MEATGR I NDER - An Energy and F1 ux
i n d u c e d i n t h e back l o o p s i s transferred
I n v a r i a n t Decoupling Current M u l t i p l i e r , "
forward by al I the switches together.
EM Gun C o n f e r e n c e , San D i e g o , C a . , 1980.
Thus, the energy dissipated in the
swi t c h i ng step i s shared among the
2. 0. Zucker, et. al., "The
opening switch and al I the p r e v i ous
MEATGR I NDER" T h e o r e t i c a l and Pract i cal
switches and t h e d u t y o f each s w i t c h is
Li mi tati ons, " TEEE Transactions on
c o r r e s p o n d i ngl y I e s s .
Magnetics, V O L . M A G - 2 0 , No. 2, March
1984.

3. 0. Zuc k e r and J. Long, "The

with CVRs in MEATGR I NDER, A R e v e r s i b l e~ Induct ive
back loops S t o r a g e and T r a n s f e r System, " P u l s e Power
C o n f e r e n c e , A l b u q u e r q u e , New M e x i c o , June
1980.

-without CVRs
in b a c k loops

F i g u r e 8. C u r r e n t in the load for one step

w i t h CVRs a c r o s s the s w i t c h e s in the b a c k
loops and without, CVRs in the b a c k loops.

CONCLUS I ON

The purpose of t h i s experiment was

to verify the predicted behavior of the
MEATGRINDER c i r c u i t . Specifically, we
set out t o show a transfer efficiency
between a s t o r a g e i n d u c t o r and u n c o u p l e d
1oad inductor in excess of the
conventional 25% efficiency. An
efficiency of 47.5% was demonstrated,
fulfilling the experimental o b j e c t i v e of
~50% and p r o v i n g the soundness of the
b a s i c MEATGRINDER t h e o r y .

In a d d i t i o n , we a d d r e s s e d t h e back
reflected voltage in the first steps due
t o the s w i t c h o u t of the l a t t e r steps. We
have shown t h e o r e t i c a l l y and d e m o n s t r a t e d
ex p e r i mental I y that c l ampi ng the back
s t e p s t o t h e i r own s w i t c h voltage level
has no e f f e c t on t h e e f f i c i e n c y .

298

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