Electromagnetic railgun hydrogen pellet injector: Progress and prospect
A two-stage, fuseless, plasma-arc-driven electromagnetic railgun system suitable for hydrogen pellet acceleration has been developed and successfully tested. The first stage is a combination of a hydrogen pellet generator and a gas gun, which is responsible for injecting a medium-velocity hydrogen pellet into the second-stage railgun through a coupling piece. As the pellet enters the railgun, a specially designed arc-initiation scheme electrically breaks down the propellant gas which has followed the pellet from the gas gun into the railgun, thus forming a conducting plasma-arc armature immediately behind the pellet. This arc formation event coincides with the triggering of the main railgun current and allows the plasma-arc armature to subsequently propel the hydrogen pellet to a high velocity. Using this two-stage acceleration scheme with a 1-m-long railgun barrel, solid hydrogen pellet velocities in excess of 2.2 km/s have been achieved for a pellet 3.2 mm in diameter and 4 mm in length. The objectives of this paper are two-fold: first, a critical review of the achievements thus far on the railgun hydrogen-pellet injector and second, a description of the most recent technological developments and their implications for future work, in particular, the prospect of employing a railgun pellet injector for future large devices. 6 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- Illinois Univ., Urbana (USA). Fusion Technology Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-84ER52111
- OSTI ID:
- 6438801
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8810231-9; ON: DE89009536
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
700205* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Fuel
Heating
& Injection Systems
ACCELERATORS
ANNULAR SPACE
CLOSED CONFIGURATIONS
CONFIGURATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
FUEL PELLETS
HYDROGEN
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
NONMETALS
PELLET INJECTION
PELLETS
PROGRESS REPORT
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
SPACE
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TOROIDAL CONFIGURATION