BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Uglum joined UT-CEM in 1996 and has been involved in several development programs.  He first worked on the development of a powder spray process which uses high velocity powder as the source for thermal energy conversion on impact with the workpiece.  This produces a fusion bond of the powder to the work surface.  He defined the conceptual and analytic basis for the process, based on the phenomena of snowplow acceleration by hypervelocity gases, and the resulting process was patented.

Dr. Uglum has been involved for several years in the definition and development of simulation codes which are used in the design and analysis of pulse power components used for a naval aircraft launch system which employs linear induction motors as force transducers.  This work lead to the development of models for electric generators which have multiple 3-phase power outputs, fast code models for multistage invertor circuits, and simplified generator models for use in a large system simulation code.

He has also defined and developed a new approach for generating acoustic wave sources for use in underground mapping of geologic structures.  The system uses electric energy for generation of the acoustic source waveform, which can be tailored to the desired waveform shape and amplitude.  The technique produces source waveforms with reduced harmonic content.

Prior to joining UT-CEM, Dr. Uglum was at the University of Texas at Austin Fusion Research Center, where he was involved with basic experimental programs studying the behavior of magnetically confined plasmas and developed the first digital feedback control system for use in position control of tokamak plasma.

Prior to joining the Fusion Research Center, Dr. Uglum was the chief experimental physicist at Austin Research Associates, where he was responsible for the development of an experimental program to develop the autoresonant accelerator concept.  This work used high intensity relativistic electron beams as a medium for generating cyclotron waves, which act as moving electric potential wells which can accelerate ion beams to high energy.

RECENT PROJECTS

• Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System: simulation analysis used to specify/verify design specifications for SDD ESS system; simulation analysis of experimental results obtained during testing at Lakehurst site
• Electromagnetic Gun program: Simulink replacement for FORTRAN code used to model Compulsator and the EM gun; replacement modules significantly speeded up the system simulation code

RESEARCH AREAS/AREAS OF INTEREST

• Applications of pulsed power energy sources.
• Modeling of power generators and their associated power train.
• Numerical modeling of high power components.
• Analytic modeling.

ABOUT ME

• American Physical Society

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. High Energy Physics, MIT, 1965
• B.S. Physics, MIT, 1960

PUBLICATIONS

• H.E. Jordan, R.C. Zowarka, T.J. Hotz, and J.R. Uglum, “Induction motor performance testing with an inverter power supply, part 1,” 13th Electromagnetic Launch Technology Symposium, Potsdam (Berlin), Germany, May 22-25, 2006, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 43, no. 1, January 2007, pp. 242-245 (PR 406).

• R.C. Zowarka, T.J. Hotz, J.R. Uglum, and H.E. Jordan, “Induction motor performance testing with an inverter power supply, Part 2,” 13th Electromagnetic Launch Technology Symposium, Potsdam (Berlin), Germany, May 22-25, 2006, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 43, no. 1, January 2007, pp. 275-278 (PR 427).

• K.R. Davey and J.R. Uglum, “Designing pulse power generators,” IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, vol. 33, no. 4, part 1, August 2005, pp. 1170-1176 (PR 399).

• R.C. Zowarka, J.R. Uglum, and J.L. Bacon, “A torque balanced flywheel system for intermediate power requirements,” 3rd International AECV Conference, Bonn, Germany, September 21-23, 1999 (PN 243).

• R.C. Zowarka, et al., “Electromagnetic powder deposition experiments,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 35, no. 1, part 1, January 1999, pp. 268-273 (PR 249).

• Defu Zhang, Gary A. Hallock, Alan J. Wootton, Robert H. Flake, and John R. Uglum, “Tokamak position control using internal and external magnetic sensor coils,” Plasma Control Issues for Tokamaks, vol. 32, no. 3, November 1997, pp. 431-443.

• J.L. Bacon, et al., “A new electromagnetic powder deposition system,” United Thermal Spray Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., September 15-18, 1997 (PR 231).

• J.L. Bacon, et al., “The diagnostic history of a new electromagnetic powder deposition system,” United Thermal Spray Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., September 15-18, 1997 (PR 230).

• R.S. Sledge, et al., “Arc initiation for the electromagnetic powder deposition gun,” United Thermal Spray Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., September 15-18, 1997 (PR 229).

• J.R. Uglum, et al., “Scaling analysis of the electromagnetic powder deposition gun,” United Thermal Spray Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., September 15-18, 1997 (PR 228).

• D.G. Davis, et al., “Multi-shot power supply using capacitors for an electromagnetic powder deposition (EPD) gun,” Digest of Technical Papers, 11th IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., June 29-July 2, 1997, vol. 2, pp. 1060-1065 (PN 235).

• R.J. Colchin, P.H. Edmonds, J.D. Galambos, P.L. Goranson, S.P. Hirshman, and J.R. Uglum, “The design of the center core of a spherical tokamak,” 1995 Fusion Engineering, SOFE ‘95 ‘Seeking a New Energy Era’, 16th IEEE/NPSS Symposium, vol. 2, September 30-October 5, 1995, pp. 1447.

• D.A. Weeks, R.C. Zowarka Jr., and J.R. Uglum, “Plasma armature characterization measurements performed at The University of Texas,” Proceedings, 7th IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, Monterey, California, U.S.A., June 11-14, 1989, pp. 632-636 (PN 154).

• J.R. Uglum, “Velocity skin effect with plasma armature,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 25, no. 1, January 1989, pp. 563-567.

• J. Uglum, “Spectroscopic measurements of muzzle flash plasma,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 22, no. 6, November 1986, pp. 1776-1778.

• J.R. Uglum, “Analysis of the resonant transformer accelerator in the gated and ungated beam mode,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, vol. NS-22, no. 3, June 1975.

PATENTS

Awarded

• Method and Apparatus for Electromagnetic Powder Deposition, (with James L. Bacon, et al.), U.S. Patent No. 6,329,025, issued December 2001.