Muzzle velocities up to 2400 ms and fire rates of 50. The second layer has a resistivity that varies along the length of. Design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun firing. Armature design a critical component of a railgun is the armature that serves as the current path between the two rails. The circuit is broken, which ends the flow of current.
Launch to space with an electromagnetic railgun ian r. Pdf design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun to. My research into the railgun also led me to the development of several high. Magnetic fields generated by this current then drive the armature along the rails due to the lorentz force. Electromagnetic em railgun bae systems united states. A railgun apparatus for accelerating a projectile having a conductive region.
The rails include a first layer comprising a highly conductive material and a second layer comprising a highly resistive layer. This higher velocity, in combination with a hypersonic projectile design, translates into a greatly extended range. Nov 09, 2015 the us navy is working on a few railgun projects that will eventually replace the largest guns on the fleets cruisers and destroyers. This brilliant maniac built his own homemade railgun. Launch to space with an electromagnetic railgun pdf. Navys highly touted electromagnetic railgun weapon system, which can fire a projectile traveling 4,800 miles an hour at distances of up to.
Theoretical design and modeling of an infantry railgun projectile james a. In this video ill go into advanced railgun design theory, mostly about stray inductance and discharge. Mvdc shipboard power system considerations for electromagnetic railguns. This function provides a value in the interval 0 1 0 pulse load has no capability 1 pulse load has full capability 0 1 pulse load has reduced capability. Theoretical design and modeling of an infantry railgun projectile. While original specifications were not met, all fabricated. Railgun build advanced railgun design theory part 1 youtube. A military payload might be sensitive to changes in acceleration and therefore it is of importance to aim for a constant current amplitude during the launch. Some electromagnetic considerations for design of railgun electromagnetic projectile launchers carl e. Development of railgun pellet injector using a laser. As a railgun uses constant acceleration over the barrel length it can achieve higher muzzle velocities than conventional guns of the same length. Pdf railguns can reach higher muzzle velocities and fire rates than conventional guns. The railgun comprises a power supply for providing a current impulse and at least two elongate generally parallel rails. An electromagnetic railgun emrg was designed, built, and tested, capable of firing a projectile a 1 gram.
A look into railgun physics and design senior honors thesis scott harmon april 2011 railguns promise to make space travel and weapons systems much more efficient for the future. To improve the efficiency of the rail gun, various geometry and dimensions of rails and armature are used. Table 42 lists the statutory requirements for the design considerations covered in dag chapter 3 design considerations, as well as applicable policy and guidance related to those design considerations. Design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun to be used against antiship m issiles johan gallant, eline vanderbeke, farid alouahabi, and markus schn eider. Introduction an electromagnetic railgun is a device designed to launch a projectile at high speeds. Therefore, the pellet should have sufficient speed to penetrate the plasma deeply. In this setup a thin metal foil is placed on the back of a nonconducting. The power supply must be able to deliver large currents, sustained and controlled over a useful amount of time. Pdf design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun to be.
A railgun is a device, typically designed as a weapon, that uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles. Design considerations in a 60 caliber electromagnetic railgun. Efficiency of the rail gun is defined as the ratio of projectile energy to input energy. Below is a schematic view of the rail gun from the top. A one meter electromagnetic railgun was designed and constructed to serve as a test bed for research into. Navy lasers, railgun, and gunlaunched guided projectile congressional research service 1 introduction issue for congress this report provides background information and issues for congress on three new shipbased weapons being developed by the navysolid state lasers ssls, the electromagnetic railgun. General design considerations the development of a complete plant design requires consideration of many different factors such as. Theoretical design and modeling of an infantry railgun. Design and optimization of a 600kj railgun power supply dtic. We put a barrier 24 ft away and it went over it, giving it a min speed of about 70 fts.
A railgun comprises a pair of parallel conducting rails, along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that flows down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail. Design considerations in a 60 caliber electromagnetic. Navy lasers, railgun, and gunlaunched guided projectile. Us navy has adopted a notional railgun design that delivers approximately 63 mj of projectile muzzle energy 1,2,3. The rails are in a vertical magnetic field intensity b. The projectile, under the influence of the lorentz force, accelerates to the end of the rails opposite the power supply and exits through an aperture. Because long rails pose design challenges, most rail guns use strong currents on the order of a million amps to generate tremendous force. This design freedom results from two considerations. A design code has been developed to aid in the development of a compact 60caliber em electromagnetic launcher system, based on a standard multivariable optimization technique. Railgun works in conjunction with cloudflares other performance technologies including automatic network. Pdf design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun. However, we think it hit the wall at a height of 15 inches, giving it a speed of 140 fts. These design parameters are rotor radius, rotor length, armature conductor thickness, banding thickness, number of conductors per pole. Jeff maniglia, jordan smiroldo, alex westfall, and guy zohar 1 california polytechnic state university, san luis obispo, ca 93401 an electromagnetic railgun emrg was designed, built, and tested, capable of firing a.
Electromagnetic railgun calculations physics forums. Us5297468a railgun with advanced rail and barrel design. When all wired up, the railguns 20 lbs of capacitors3 pairs of 300j, 350v, 5500uf unitscan electrify the guns rails to fire tiny aluminum rounds like this. Design of the compulsator began with research through conference and research papers. The rails are lengths of conductive metal, such as copper. Mcnab, senior member, ieee abstract many advances in electromagnetic em railgun and power supply technology have been made in recent years. Homework statement electromagnetic railgun consists of two parallel, distant from the horizontal, very long rails, after which moves perpendicular to the rails, linking them to the metal bar of mass m. General considerations for the pps a railgun uses electric current to drive the armature through the acceleration volume. The railgun uses a pair of parallel conductors rails, along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects. The inductance and resistance of the rails and power supply limit the efficiency of a railgun design.
Laboratory experiments with railguns have demonstrated muzzle velocities of 23 kms and muzzle energies 8 mj. The us navy is working on a few railgun projects that will eventually replace the largest guns on the fleets cruisers and destroyers. You will see my errors, thought process and workflow. The power system also defines a capability function across the interface space. The design considerations listed in table 42 below should be assessed for applicability to the system, as they may not all be appropriate. Oct 03, 20 this video shows how to build your own homemade railgun experimental prototype. May 03, 2017 a rail gun is an electromagnetic projectile launcher. Design, fabrication, and testing of an electromagnetic. These rail guns will fire a projectile away from the shi. For a sheet conductor, the force density per unit area or pressure is.
Be very careful, this is dangerous due to high voltages and the danger of electrocution. The rail gun was fired from a height of 25 inches with an angle of 110 inch 6 inches so 1 degree. Mvdc shipboard power system considerations for electromagnetic railgun 6th dod em railgun workshop 1516 september 2015 laurel, md dr. Pdf a design code has been developed to aid in the development of a compact 60caliber em electromagnetic launcher system, based on a standard. The acceleration force and l could be investigated instead of efficiency asghar. Railgun build advanced railgun design theory part 1. Rail gun a seminar report submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of bachelor of technology in department of mechanical engineering submitted to. Hi forum can anyone explain where the energy is consider a railigun, a voltage is put across the two parallel rails, a current starts building up, whille some energy is stored in the magnetic field inside the current loop. General info overviewgoals schematics railgun prototype. O ne of the first activities that should be performed at a project site is a site assessment of resource issues. I first started by constructing a small railgun as a proofofconcept. Railguns can reach higher muzzle velocities and fire rates than conventional guns. An electromagnetic railgun design and realization for. This video shows how to build your own homemade railgun experimental prototype.
The development of the railgun required a lot of timei invested well over 2000 hours in the project, although if id limited myself to fewer design options i could have reduced that time considerably. It can be a solid piece of conductive metal or a conductive sabot a carrier that houses a dart or other projectile. Design, fabrication, and testing of an electromagnetic rail. I conducted a project to skim the surface of railgun physics and design. This process includes inventory and data collection of the resources that are associated with the project site. From the capabilities point of view, a railgun can do all what a conventional gun. Navy railgun contacts capt michael ziv, pms405 program manager, navsea 05tdcto. Currently, the navy is pursuing a proofofconcept effort to demonstrate the feasibility of this notional naval railgun design, and a poc facility is a key element in these demonstrations.
A typical armature design has a c shape with the sliding contacts following the body of the armature see fig. The original railgun design was completely experimental. The physics of the railgun this demo is safe for you to try at home if you have an actual magnetic compass. Design, fabrication, and testing of an electromagnetic rail gun for the repeated testing and simulation of orbital debris impacts. Not content with just merely building the launch platform, we are also pursuing the development of a hyper velocity projectile hvp. With practical railgun geometries, much more accurate two or three dimensional models of the rail and armature current distributions and the associated forces can be computed, e. The railguns ability to defend against enemy threats from distances greater than ever before improves the capabilities of our armed forces.
The projectile normally does not contain explosives, instead relying on the projectiles high speed and kinetic energy to inflict damage. Oct 17, 2015 when all wired up, the railguns 20 lbs of capacitors3 pairs of 300j, 350v, 5500uf unitscan electrify the guns rails to fire tiny aluminum rounds like this. Metals with tensile strengths in excess of 3 gpa are available and under the proper conditions, a projectile can be over stressed while it is confined in the bore. Design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun to be used against antiship missiles.
The most important gauge of power supply effectiveness is the energy it can deliver. Pdf design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun firing. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the design options for a 1. With the catastrophic failure of the injector casing and the injectorrail assembly during a full power shot, i found. This system was designed with the goal of increasing the energy density of an.
A railgun is an electrically powered electromagnetic projectile launcher based on similar principles to the homopolar motor. Design, fabrication, and testing of an electromagnetic rail gun for. Many people have requested real time display so here it is. For permission to reproduce, please write a letter to. Design and construction of a one meter electromagnetic railgun. In the high velocity section of the railgun, struc. Schematic function of a railgun1 in the next step i am going to show how the force is calculated. Nov, 2017 hi forum can anyone explain where the energy is consider a railigun, a voltage is put across the two parallel rails, a current starts building up, whille some energy is stored in the magnetic field inside the current loop. General info overviewgoals schematics railgun prototype rail. Railgun from what ive gathered from wikipedia the railgun is more of an artillery weapon, striking targets from vast distances with high impact force. Design considerations for an electromagnetic railgun firing intelligent bursts to be used against antiship missiles article pdf available in ieee transactions on plasma science 435.
The requirements of pellet injection vary accord ing to the plasma parameters and the op erating conditions of the devices. A lumped circuit model which was verified with a sophisticated performance program serves as the core of the code. Materials handling will be discussed in the next chapters. The result is a 140% additional performance boost for website visitors. An electromagnetic railgun design and realization for an electrical engi. This design proposal will outline the principles behind designing a lowvelocity railgun for educational use in a high school classroom. This will represent the end of the theory effort for the railgun and we will then proceed to design considerations and begin construction. Baum university of new mexico department of electrical and computer engineering albuquerque new mexico 871 abstract this paper explores some alternate design concepts for electromagnetic projectile launchers. Parametric tradeoff studies were conducted to evaluate and select the railgun parameters to achieve a system that can accelerate a 120 gm launch. The lorentz force is given by the average magnetic field b on the railgun armature and is a result of the biotsavartlaw. Arvind kumar singh alok prakash singh assistant professor roll no. Abstract affordably integrating an electromagnetic railgun emrg into a surface combatant of less than 10,000 mt requires a new approach to shipboard power system design.
Navys highly touted electromagnetic railgun weapon system, which can fire a projectile traveling 4,800 miles an hour at distances of up to 100 miles away, will likely never see combat. This design was changed throughout the project as system analysis and component testing exposed unforeseen system limitations. Which are absolutely essential in the understanding of electromagnetic propulsion. Contemporary discussions of magnetic forces tend to assume as valid the lorentz force. Muzzle velocities up to 2400 ms and fire rates of 50 hz have already been demonstrated with projectiles having a mass of 140 g and a square caliber of 25 mm2. Design and testing of a 2000 joule electromagnetic railgun. A conventional cannon has some type of shell in a tube. Some electromagnetic considerations for design of railgun. Launch to space with an electromagnetic railgun magnetics. The current rise time is also a consideration when selecting switches for pulsed. Design considerations in a 60 caliber electromagnetic railgun system. Navy made history at the naval surface warfare centerdahlgren division with our laboratory railgun.
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