Design and performance of a multi-stage cylindrical reconnection launcher

Author

Kaye, Ronald J. ; Brawley, Edwin L. ; Duggin, Billy W. ; Cnare, Eugene C. ; Rovang, Dean C. ; Widner, Melvin M.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Lab., Albuquerque, NM, USA

Volume

27

Issue

1

fYear

1991

fDate

1/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

596

Lastpage

600

Abstract

A multistage launcher was designed and assembled by stacking six coil assemblies end-to-end in a support housing which also aligns the system. Each coil is powered by its own capacitor bank which is triggered when an optical sensor in each stage determines that the projectile is in the firing position. The induction launch technology is successfully demonstrated for multistage systems. A 5 kg projectile can be accelerated from 12 m/s to 335 m/s with an average of 200 kJ stored in each of six stages. Calculations of launcher performance with the digital simulation code, WARP-10, are in good agreement with experiments

Keywords

design engineering; digital simulation; electromagnetic launchers; power capacitors; power engineering computing; power supplies to apparatus; pulse generators; pulsed power technology; software packages; testing; 200 kJ; EM launchers; WARP-10; capacitor bank; coil; design; digital simulation; multi-stage cylindrical reconnection launcher; optical sensor; performance; projectile; pulsed power; Acceleration; Coils; Geometry; Laboratories; Low earth orbit satellites; Power system modeling; Power systems; Predictive models; Projectiles; Prototypes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.101101

Filename

101101