Title :
Electrothermal light gas gun
Author :
Tidman, Derek A. ; Massey, Dennis W.
Author_Institution :
GT-Devices Inc., Alexandria, VA, USA
fDate :
1/1/1993 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
An electrothermal light gas gun (ELGG) has been developed that has launched 2.0 g to about 7 km/s, 10 g to 4.6 km/s, and 17 g to 3.5 km/s with an efficiency of 32% from a 16-mm reusable steel gun tube. These initial experiments were with a single-chamber breech fed launcher. The gun is scalable to large bore sizes and to date has close to the performance of a conventional light gas gun but removes the need for a heavy pump tube structure. It also has the potential to exceed conventional LGG performance when configured as a launcher with distributed H2 injectors, and a facility to explore this has been constructed
Keywords :
electromagnetic launchers; plasma guns; plasma heating; 32 percent; ELGG; distributed H2 injectors; electrothermal light gas gun; performance; reusable steel gun tube; single-chamber breech fed launcher; Boring; Electrodes; Electrothermal effects; Electrothermal launching; Fuses; Hydrogen; Power supplies; Projectiles; Steel; Switches;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
