A second generation EMET railgun for secondary arc studies

Since 1985 GT-Devices has been operating a pair of railguns with lengths of 0.9 m and 3.6 m, respectively. A new second-generation railgun is now being constructed to improve straightness, stiffness, sealing, and diagnostic access. The basic design consists of a steel tube with a thin lengthwise sli...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) 1991-01, Vol.27 (1), p.91-96
Main Authors: Witherspoon, F.D., Burton, R.L., Goldstein, S.A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
430100 - Particle Accelerators- Design, Development, & Operation
430300 - Particle Accelerators- Auxiliaries & Components
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700460 - Fusion Technology- Heating & Fueling Systems
ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
Assembly
Boring
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONATES
COMPUTER CODES
Degradation
DESIGN
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
Fu
FUEL INJECTION SYSTEMS
FUEL SYSTEMS
Fuels-
Insulation
Machining
Materials testing
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA GUNS
Plasmas
POLYCARBONATES
PROJECTILES
RADIATIONS
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
Railguns
Rails
Steel
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Since 1985 GT-Devices has been operating a pair of railguns with lengths of 0.9 m and 3.6 m, respectively. A new second-generation railgun is now being constructed to improve straightness, stiffness, sealing, and diagnostic access. The basic design consists of a steel tube with a thin lengthwise slit forming two halves in cross section with bolt preloading. The internal structure consists of split tubular G-10 compression blocks with Glidcop AL-15 rails and polycarbonate insulators formed from 90 degree tube sections. A new 0.9 m launcher of the same design is now under construction, with a 3.6 m version to follow. An upgraded electrothermal injector has been developed using modified armature injection module (AIM) hardware. Injection velocities of 2500 m/s have been attained with 1.1 gram polycarbonate projectiles for stored bank energies of 65 kJ. Injection velocities of 3000 m/s may be possible. The design details of the new railgun, injector, and diagnostics are discussed, and some initial experimental results are presented.< >
ISSN:0018-9464
1941-0069
DOI:10.1109/20.101000