Thunderbolt [railguns]

Author

McNab, Ian R. ; Fletcher, Jeff S. ; Sucov, Eugene W. ; Rustan, Pedro L. ; Huebschman, Michael L.

Author_Institution

Westinghouse Electr. Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Volume

27

Issue

1

fYear

1991

fDate

1/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

130

Lastpage

135

Abstract

The Thunderbolt program facility will provide 60 MJ of energy at 21 kV from capacitor banks for powering breech-fed or distributed energy railgun electromagnetic launchers. After discharge from the capacitor banks, the energy pulse is shaped with room-temperature solenoidal inductors, with switching being provided by D and E-sized ignitrons. Fast recharging of the capacitor banks could permit repetitive operation. A screened room provides protection for the control and data acquisition equipment, while a single-point ground scheme protects against ground loops. A substantial foundation provides support for the catch tank, while high-vacuum equipment will permit operation at high velocities with the round-bore railgun. Preinjection of the test projectiles to velocities of about 1 km/s is provided by a helium gas gun to minimize damage to the breech section of the railgun. In addition to providing details on Thunderbolt, operating experience and results obtained with a subscale launcher are described

Keywords

capacitor storage; electromagnetic launchers; 21 kV; 60 MJ; D-sized ignitrons; E-sized ignitrons; EM launchers; He gas gun; Thunderbolt program facility; breech-fed railgun; capacitor banks; catch tank; control equipment; data acquisition equipment; distributed energy railgun; ground loops; repetitive operation; room-temperature solenoidal inductors; round-bore railgun; screened room; single-point ground scheme; Capacitors; Data acquisition; Electromagnetic launching; Helium; Inductors; Projectiles; Protection; Pulse shaping methods; Railguns; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.101008

Filename

101008