Railgun with integrated electrothermal preacceleration

Author

Wisken, Holger G. ; Schade, Dieter W. ; Braunsberger, Ulrich E. ; Salge, Jurgen G H ; Jean-Jacques, Alexander M. ; Dirr, Bernhard ; Igenbergs, Eduard B.

Author_Institution

Inst. fuer Hochspannungstech., Tech. Univ. Braunschweig, Germany

Volume

29

Issue

1

fYear

1993

fDate

1/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

529

Lastpage

533

Abstract

In order to transfer a maximum amount of energy into kinetic energy of the mass to be accelerated and to keep erosion processes small, railguns are operated with preacceleration. Some aspects of electrothermal preacceleration are discussed, and a railgun system is presented which uses a sinusoidal current pulse. Electrothermal preacceleration is done by a close-connected separate unit. In the first part of the acceleration process the mass is driven electrothermally. With increasing current an additional electromagnetic force acts on the mass. First experiments with a railgun using an integrated electrothermal preacceleration unit have demonstrated successful operation, even if the railgun is supplied by a sinusoidal current pulse

Keywords

electromagnetic launchers; plasma guns; plasma heating; close-connected separate unit; electromagnetic force; electrothermal preacceleration; erosion processes; kinetic energy; mass; railguns; sinusoidal current pulse; Acceleration; Dielectric breakdown; Electrothermal effects; Plasma accelerators; Plasma density; Plasma properties; Projectiles; Pulsed power supplies; Railguns; Reproducibility of results;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.195631

Filename

195631