Progress toward a self-contained rapid capacitor charger for a small railgun in burst mode operation at 3 RPS

In previous work, one module of a battery powered rapid charger was created which was able to charge the capacitor bank of a low velocity railgun [1] to 2 kV at 1 Hz in burst mode [2][3]. A second module has recently been added to the system which has demonstrated how these modules can be combined in parallel to increase both the power and energy available. Also, some additions to the circuit have improved the robustness of the system. Further improvements to the railgun now allow us to reduce the required charge voltage to 1.8 kV although the capacitance of the bank will increase to keep the stored energy the same. The rapid charger has now demonstrated 2 RPS operation. Methods to further increase the charge rate are discussed. Research into alternative battery types reveals that our current dry-cell lead-acid batteries compare favorably to newer battery types.