The Programmed Capacitor Storage Discharge and Other Factors Influencing on Launch Velocity and on Performance of an Electrodischarge Accelerator

Investigations of the influence of some factors on the launch velocity and efficiency of projectile acceleration by means of electrothermal and other accelerators supplying the electric energy have been performed for a long time and have given many experimental results. Moreover, the parameters of working gas such as pressure, temperature, molecular mass, degree of its contamination, and the duration of the electric energy input in working gas (duration of the current pulse) also influence velocity and efficiency. Changing the duration of the electric energy input by programming the capacitor storage discharge can be performed. The experiments that were carried out showed the following main results. The projectile velocity increases in the range of 7%-10% in the programmed discharge mode compared with the synchronous mode, although the energy inserted in the arc is equal for both modes. The efficiency of energy conversion from internal energy of working gas to the kinetic energy of the projectile at a velocity of 2100 m/s increases from 15% to 17%. Thus, to achieve equal projectile velocity, the pulsed pressure in the programmed mode should be lower than that in the synchronous mode. This is very important, for example, in the launching of projectiles containing penetrators of big elongation