The design and optimization of a power supply for a one-meter electromagnetic railgun

Download
Author
Feliciano, Allan S.
Date
2001-12Advisor
Harkins, Richard
Maier, William B. II
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
A naval electromagnetic railgun would be a considerable asset against a littoral environment. By accelerating projectiles to 3 km/s, a naval railgun would be capable of reaching 300-400 nautical miles. Problems such as rail erosion, energy storage and fire control prevent the railgun from becoming a weapon to date. At the Naval Postgraduate School, the Physics Department continues to investigate and develop concepts to overcome these challenges. As part of the methodology, previous students built a one-meter railgun system for experimentation. The existing 1.6 mF power supply is insufficient to fire this railgun effectively. To design a sufficient power supply a MATLAB code was created to simulate a generated current pulse and to predict the subsequent railgun performance. Interrelated factors such as railgun geometry, muzzle velocity, current density and contact surface area were taken into consideration. Also, tradeoffs in capacitance, projectile mass and residual current were weighed against one another to achieve desired railgun performances. From numerous simulations, this study determined that the one-meter railgun with a 21.5 mF power supply could fire a 0.158-kg projectile at a velocity of 1 km/s, and leave a residual current of only 4% of the initial energy once the projectile exits the rails. v.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Solid state capacitor discharge pulsed power supply for railguns
Black, Jesse H. (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2007-03);This thesis presents a solid state thyristor switched power supply capable of providing 50 kJ from a high voltage capacitor to a railgun. The efficiency with which energy is transferred from a power supply to a projectile ... -
Design, fabrication, and testing of a scalable series augmented railgun research platform
Black, Brian C. (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2006-03);The design and material properties of rails and projectiles are critical to the success of the Navy railgun. This thesis addresses the design, fabrication, and testing of a scalable square bore electromagnetic railgun. ... -
Comparison of two railgun power supply architectures to quantify the energy dissipated after the projectile leaves the railgun
Stewart, Mitchell C. (Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2016-06);Railgun muzzle flash, or post-fire arcing, is a major concern to the Navy because of the potential associated thermal stresses. In this thesis, we compared two railgun power supplies in Matlab Simulink to quantify their ...