The CEM-UT rapid fire compulsator railgun system; Recent performance and development milestones

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

OSTI ID:5900591

Perkins, D E; Pratap, S B; Spann, M L; Thelen, R F; Werst, M D ^[1]

---

1. Texas Univ., Austin, TX (United States). Center for Electromechanics

A test program for the rapid fire compensated pulsed alternator (compulsator) railgun system at the Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin (CEM-UT) commenced in April 1986. Two years later, performance data generated in the period from the start of testing to December 1987 was presented at the 4th Symposium on Electromagnetic Launch Technology in Austin, TX. Since that time, 27 compulsator powered railgun experiments have been performed including a 1.0-MJ discharge at 3,510 rpm. In this test, a 724 kA current pulse accelerated an 80 g, aluminum armature to 2.05 km/s, thus exceeding the projectile velocity goal at 73% rated machine speed. Furthermore, operation with a single gun barrel has been achieved using a parallel path, solid-state closing switch to deliver 132 kA to the railgun injector. This paper presents data from the rapid fire compulsator railgun facility. Included is a discussion of the energy transfer, power output, and system efficiency during a 1.0 MJ discharge. Also shown are the injector current, voltage, and di/dt curves for this test which were used in the design of the solid-state closing switch. Results of railgun experiments using the solid-state switch are analyzed.

• OSTI ID: 5900591
• Report Number(s): CONF-9004136-; CODEN: IEMGA
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Vol. 27:1; Conference: 5. IEEE symposium on electromagnetic launcher technology, Destin, FL (United States), 1-5 Apr 1990; ISSN 0018-9464
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Fu
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
PLASMA SWITCHES
DESIGN
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
TEXAS
MISSILE LAUNCHING SITES
ACCELERATOR FACILITIES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY TRANSFER
IMPACT FUSION DRIVERS
PROJECTILES
PULSED MHD GENERATORS
SOLID-STATE PLASMA
VELOCITY
ACCELERATORS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FEDERAL REGION VI
MHD GENERATORS
NORTH AMERICA
PLASMA
RADIATIONS
SWITCHES
TESTING
USA
700460* - Fusion Technology- Heating & Fueling Systems
Fuels- (1992)
430303 - Particle Accelerators- Experimental Facilities & Equipment
300102 - MHD Generators- Performance & Testing