Gyroscopic stabilization of the armature in a travelling wave induction launcher

This paper presents an analytical model for the investigation of the gyroscopic stabilization of the launch package in induction type coilguns. By a proper arrangement of coils and of their feeding currents, a traveling wave of flux density is produced, which is characterized by axial and azimuth components of velocity. The resulting action exerted on a conductive cylinder has components in the same directions as the travelling wave. This produces an helical motion of the armature. Since the governing vector field equation is not separable in the cylindrical coordinate, an approach based on the Second Order Vector Potential (SOVP) formulation has been here adopted.