Design and realization of a novel helical coil electromagnetic launcher

Helical coil electromagnetic launchers (HEML) using rail-fed strategy, local excitation and single-turn commutation, solve the problem of synchronization control perfectly. Through the simulation a novel helical coil launcher has been designed adopting the basic HEML´s structure. A D-shaped cross-section armature has been proposed in order to achieve the maximum projectile velocity. The energizing length of the driving coil as well as the armature position of the maximum force has been determined. The maximum driving force on the armature increases with the increasing coil axial length, and the armature acceleration reaches its maximum value when the ratio of axial to radial length of the coil is 1:2. The force distribution of the armature and driving coils has been analyzed. Theoretical analysis and experiments show that the reluctance armature can obtain larger thrust under low current condition, but the coil armature is better in the case of high current while the ferromagnetic material is saturated.