Repetitive resonant railgun power supply
A repetitive railgun power supply for accelerating a projectile at predetermined intervals is described comprising: a pair of parallel rails for guiding the projectile and having an inductive load impedance; a storage capacitor for providing energy to propel the projectile along the pair of parallel rails, the storage capacitor having a first end connected to one rail in the pair of parallel rails and a second end; a storage inductor for providing a circuit with the storage capacitor resonant at a frequency determined by the predetermined intervals for accelerating the projectiles, the storage inductor having a first end connected to the other rail in the pair of parallel rails and a second end connected to the first end of the storage capacitor; and a saturable magnetic switch having a low impedance saturated state relative to the inductive load impedance for maintaining energy flow in the resonant circuit formed by the storage capacitor and the storage inductor and having a high impedance unsaturated state relative to the inductive load impedance for transferring energy flow to the pair of parallel rails. The magnetic switch has a first end connected to the first end of the storage inductor and a second end connected to the second end of the storage capacitor and has a volt-second capacity effective to maintain the high impedance state during the accelerating projectile and to switch to the low impedance state when an arc is formed between the rails as the projectile exits the rails.
- Assignee:
- Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC
- Patent Number(s):
- US 4718321
- OSTI ID:
- 5385553
- Resource Relation:
- Patent File Date: Filed date 19 Jun 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Overpulse railgun energy recovery circuit
Multiple resonant railgun power supply