The Design and Testing of a Large-Caliber Railgun

Crawford, Mark; Subramanian, Ravi; Watt, T.; Surls, D.; Motes, D.; Mallick, J.; Barnette, Darrel; Satapathy, S.; Campos, Juan

doi:10.1109/elt.2008.84

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At Table IV, some parameters (velocity, projectile mass, stator length, and launch current) of sample studies in the literature are given [1], [2], [12], [13], [45]- [47]. In this paper, a maximum speed of 1.8 m/s speed is reached at a current of 5 A (16 V).…”

Section: Experimental Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Electromagnetic Helical Coilgun Launcher Design Based on LabVIEW

Ege

Kabadayı

Kalender

et al. 2016

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper, a new helical coil electromagnetic launcher is designed, which launches a magnet projectile without using any mechanical launching equipment, but by applying momentary varying current to the helical coil. For measuring the velocity of the magnet projectile in different stages, a LabVIEWbased software and hardware system is developed, and it is also used for improving the performance of the output velocity of the magnet projectile by changing the ignition time of the coils. This paper distinguished the new accelerator coil design and the software, which uses LabVIEW for the first time in this area. With the LabVIEW-based software, optical sensor data are acquired and processed, and ignition triggering control is carried out. Ignition timings on sequential four helical coils are optimized to produce the maximum acceleration in each coil, and thus the maximum velocity of the magnet projectile at output. An NI Data Acquisition 6010 data acquisition card is used for communication and gathering information throughout the entire launching process. In addition, the effects of changing the current magnitude, ignition time, magnet projectile length, and diameter to the output velocity of magnet projectile are investigated and discussed in detail.

show abstract

Section: Experimental Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Electromagnetic Helical Coilgun Launcher Design Based on LabVIEW

Ege

Kabadayı

Kalender

et al. 2016

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Concentration of current is a special phenomenon for large caliber railgun (LCR) systems, where the high-energy density and large current amplitude could lead armature current to be more concentrated [7]. In this paper, the current distribution and concentration extent in LCA (90 mm × 90 mm) and SCA (20 mm × 20 mm) are studied and compared.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Study on current concentration of large-caliber C-shaped armature at current ramp-up stage in square railgun

Tang

Chen

et al. 2014

2014 17th International Symposium on Electromagnetic Launch Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Compared with small and medium caliber railguns, large caliber railguns (LCRs) could be applied in more occasions. Armatures for LCRs could be designed according to studies on small and medium caliber railguns, yet there are some unique features of the design. Current concentration is a special phenomenon in LCR systems, where it's more severe due to high energy density and large current. For a large-caliber armature that has the same muzzle speed as small-caliber armatures, which guarantees the identical velocity skin effect, the skin effect and the induced current are studied and have to be considered as the main influence factors.In this paper, the current distribution and concentration between large caliber armature (90 mm × 90 mm) and small caliber armature (20 mm × 20 mm) are studied and compared. The current distribution coefficients of these two armatures are obtained, it's shown that current density in large armature is more concentrated than the small one. The proportions of induced current to the total current for 90 mm × 90 mm and 20 mm × 20 mm armatures are obtained, which indicate that the induced current is the main reason for current concentration in large-caliber armature. At last, measures to improve current distribution in large-caliber armatures are discussed.

show abstract

“…Up to now, there are two main strategies to improve the system efficiency [5][6][7][8]. One is to reduce the loss of system energy during the launch; the other is to restore the residual energy remaining in the system after the launch [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the system efficiency of the synchronously-triggered capacitive pulsed-power supply in the electromagnetic railgun system

Gong

Liu

2014

2014 17th International Symposium on Electromagnetic Launch Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The electromagnetic railgun system based on capacitive pulsed-power supply (CPPS) has obtained widespread applications because of its obvious advantages over the inductive ones on mature technology, operational reliability and feasible financial condition. However, the existing CPPS-based electromagnetic railgun system works with low efficiency. In this paper, the systematical study on the system efficiency of the synchronously-triggered capacitive pulsed-power supply in a 1MJ electromagnetic railgun system is proposed. Firstly, all PFUs are supposed to be triggered synchronously and the load is simplified as a resistor. Then the system performance criteria, i.e. the launch velocity of the armature v end and the system efficiency η, are expressed as the function of four independent system variables, i.e. the capacitance of each pulse forming unit (PFU) C, the pre-charged voltage U C of capacitors, the rail length l, and the armature mass m. The relationship between η (or v end ) and any two independent variables can be found under the environment of Matlab®R2012a by fixing the other two parameters. The results are then verified under the environment of Simplorer®8. These figures can be used to in instruct the design of the pulsedpower supply for a designated load or the railgun for a designated source. The study can provide a theoretical foundation for the future designs to get higher system efficiency.

show abstract

The Design and Testing of a Large-Caliber Railgun

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

A New Electromagnetic Helical Coilgun Launcher Design Based on LabVIEW

A New Electromagnetic Helical Coilgun Launcher Design Based on LabVIEW

Study on current concentration of large-caliber C-shaped armature at current ramp-up stage in square railgun

Study on the system efficiency of the synchronously-triggered capacitive pulsed-power supply in the electromagnetic railgun system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About