Preliminary experimental results of a novel induction type railgun

Abstract

This paper describes the concept of an induction type railgun and the results of preliminary experiments with such a railgun. The induction type railgun may surmount the barrier which has been created by secondary arcs in the operations of plasma armature railguns. The induction type railgun is operated as a conventional railgun during the early stage of acceleration and is designed to accelerate a projectile by the plasma armature which is enhanced by the induction from a set of external current loops during the late stage. The external current loops are configured just outside of the two rails at the middle segment of the railgun bore, and are shorter than the railgun. The induced voltage generated by the external current loops is applied to the circuit consisting of the plasma armature, the secondary arc and the two rails between the two arcs. The induced voltage increases the plasma armature current, and simultaneously reduces the secondary arc current. The authors have performed preliminary experiments of the induction type railgun with a relatively low energy stored in a capacitor bank. An increase in the plasma armature current and projectile velocity have been observed in their preliminary experiments.