A Novel Hybrid Energy Storage System for Large Shipborne Electromagnetic Railgun

Abstract

Although the pulsed power supply (PPS) based on capacitor has been successfully applied to engineering prototype of electromagnetic (EM) railgun, its large volume makes it poor adaptability and flexibility due to relatively low energy storage density. In this article, a novel hybrid energy storage system based on battery and pulsed alternator is proposed. The topology principle of the system, the design scheme of the pulsed alternator, and the cosimulation results of multimodules are described in detail. The research results show that the proposed system can be used as the driving power of EM railgun with 40 MJ muzzle kinetic energy, and the effective energy storage density (energy released in a single pulse) of the pulsed alternator can reach 6.3 MJ/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> . Taking into account the charging motors, converter thyristors, and other auxiliary components, the effective energy storage density of PPS system will be 3 MJ/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> and the overall volume can be reduced to one-third of the current capacitive PPS.