A Small-Sized and Battery-Supplied Data Acquisition System for the Electromagnetic Launcher to Measure Pulsed Magnetic Fields

Abstract

In rail-gun launchers, the main current is pulsed and can reach up to several MA. The width of the pulse is about 2 - 4ms. When pulsed currents are supplied from the pulse power, it will generate a large transient magnetic field around the armature. Meanwhile, the armature will be accelerated up to 2km/s by a large electromagnetic force. In order to research the features of the fields around contact surfaces between rails and the armature, it needs to use a small-sized and battery-supplied data acquisition system to measure pulsed magnetic fields. The B-dot probe acts as a sensor to acquire the transient magnetic fields. All data will be stored in a SD card. The armature and SD card will be caught and fetched back after the launching. The system would be suitable and useful for the electromagnetic launcher design.