Title :
Characteristics of high efficiency 300 kJ railgun
Author :
Yamori, A. ; Kawashima, Naohiro ; Kohno, M.
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Space & Astronaut. Sci., Kanagawa, Japan
Abstract :
The characteristics of a 300 kJ railgun is described. It has very efficient energy conversion characteristics and for this kind of high velocity railgun (7.8 km/s), a maximum of nearly 12% efficiency has been attained. The dependence of the efficiency on the stored energy of the power supply, projectile mass and the gun caliber is studied. The efficiency strongly depends on the caliber and increases as the caliber is increased. Measurements using an array of B-dot probes indicate that a growth of the secondary arc has a vital role in reducing the efficiency.<>
Keywords :
arcs (electric); capacitor storage; power capacitors; power supplies to apparatus; probes; pulsed power technology; railguns; 12 percent; 300 kJ; 7.8 km/s; B-dot probes; energy conversion characteristics; gun caliber; measurements; power supply; projectile mass; railgun; secondary arc; stored energy; Boring; Capacitors; Energy conversion; Probes; Projectiles; Railguns; Rails; Space technology; Switches; Systolic arrays;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
