Design of a reluctance accelerator

Author

Bresie, D.A. ; Andrews, J.A.

Author_Institution

Center for Electromech., Texas Univ., Austin, TX, USA

Volume

27

Issue

1

fYear

1991

fDate

1/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

623

Lastpage

627

Abstract

The design of a reluctance accelerator is described, and the methods used in its design are discussed. The methods of control of the accelerator and its predicted performance are also discussed. Because this device contains iron, and is therefore very nonlinear, it was necessary to use a finite element (FEA) code (TEXMAP) in order to determine the forces developed by the accelerator and to determine the inductance of the windings at various stroke positions. Results of the analysis show that the true performance of a reluctance launcher varies considerable from that predicted by classical closed-form flux analysis. It is shown that although the reluctance accelerator has some limitations in maximum force for a given bore area, predicted efficiency is relatively good when compared with air-core induction machines

Keywords

CAD; electrical engineering computing; electromagnetic launchers; finite element analysis; software packages; CAD; EM launchers; FEA; TEXMAP; bore; closed-form flux analysis; control; design; efficiency; forces; inductance; iron; performance; reluctance accelerator; stroke positions; windings; Acceleration; Boring; Coils; Controllability; Iron; Linear accelerators; Magnetic materials; Performance analysis; Reluctance motors; Synchronous motors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.101106

Filename

101106