Summary of experimental results using the REMGUN III HPG facility

Author

Bloyce, A.R.P. ; Kirkpatrick, D.J.

Author_Institution

R. Armament Res. & Dev. Establ., Sevenoaks, UK

Volume

25

Issue

1

fYear

1989

fDate

1/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

97

Lastpage

101

Abstract

As part of the ongoing research program into electromagnetic (EM) guns at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE), work has been carried out on several railgun barrel/switch systems which have been installed in an enclosed 100-yd range. Using the REMGUN III 6.7-MJ HPG (homopolar generator) pulsed power supply, explosive and mechanical commutating opening switches have been built and tested. This includes the IRD railswitch, the LYNEX linear explosive switch (marks 1 and 2), and the Royal Ordnance gas-operated switch. The first three were fired with a 25-mm-square bore gun using solid armatures, while the fourth was incorporated into a combined conventional/EM round-bore plasma-driven gun. A description of these switches is presented together with a summary of results and diagnostics used

Keywords

electromagnetic launchers; homopolar generators; pulsed power technology; switches; IRD railswitch; LYNEX linear explosive switch; Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment; Royal Ordnance gas-operated switch; bore gun; combined conventional/EM round-bore plasma-driven gun; electromagnetic guns; homopolar generator; mechanical commutating opening switches; pulsed power supply; railgun barrel/switch systems; solid armatures; Boring; Electromagnetic launching; Explosives; Power generation; Pulse generation; Pulsed power supplies; Railguns; Research and development; Switches; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.22513

Filename

22513