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

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.