Studies and Optimisation of Pulsed Power Components and Armature of Electromagnetic Railgun

Abstract

Electromagnetic railgun technology is the unique and practical method for accelerating projectile to muzzle velocity beyond 2000 m/s, which conventional chemical propellant guns cannot achieve. A study involving literature survey, modeling and simulation and experimentation was carried out to design, develop and optimise pulsed power system and armature for railgun. A capacitor-based pulsed power system of 4 MJ was designed and developed to propel projectiles of mass above 100g to hypervelocity. The system used a modular approach by integrating ten 400 kJ capacitor bank modules. Several simulation studies were carried out for the system s performance analysis using the Microcap simulation package to predict the current, force and projectile velocity. Simulations predict the feasibility of obtaining hypervelocity and muzzle energy with the envisaged pulsed power configuration. A software-based on Electromagnetic Finite Element Method (EM FEM) was developed to analyze structural components like railgun barrel, inductor and power transfer lines. Power transfer lines and coaxial cables were designed and fabricated. newline