Solid-Projectile Helical Coil Electromagnetic Launcher

Summary form only given. Helical coil electromagnetic launchers (HCEML´s) can operate at significantly lower currents and higher efficiency in comparison to conventional railgun and induction coilgun launchers. The HCEML´s versatility is due, in part, to its large inductance gradient which is typically 2 to 3 orders of magnitude greater than a conventional railgun and can be tailored to almost any value in that range. The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) has focused on the development of a low current, high efficiency launcher for low to medium velocity applications. To this end, MU has demonstrated a 40 mm bore x 750 mm length HCEML´s to launch -500 gram projectiles to 150 m/s operating at 12 to 15 kApeak currents, 400 to 800 V peak voltages, and measured efficiencies as high as 32%. While this particular HCEML used hollow-projectiles, present research efforts at MU are focused on the development of a solid-projectile HCEML. This presentation describes a 40 mm bore x 300 mm length and a 40 mm bore x 750 mm length solid projectile HCEML. The goal of this research is to demonstrate the hollow-projectile HCEML concept and to experimentally measure its performance, relative to the hollow-projectile HCEML.