Railguns
Abstract
Descriptions are given of the following railgun systems: the fast-capacitor/inductor system, the slow-capacitor/inductance system, the homopolar generator/inductor system, the distributed energy store system, and the flux compressor powered railgun. Attention is also given to the inverse railgun flux compressor, where the piston is driven between the rails along which the inverted chevron armature slides. The development of the railgun since World War II is surveyed. It is noted that the most pressing need at present is for cheaper, simpler energy stores to couple to the railguns.
- Publication:
-
IN: U.S. National Congress of Applied Mechanics
- Pub Date:
- 1982
- Bibcode:
- 1982asme.proc..361M
- Keywords:
-
- Capacitors;
- Electric Energy Storage;
- Homopolar Generators;
- Inductors;
- Power Supply Circuits;
- Railgun Accelerators;
- Electric Generators;
- Electromagnetic Acceleration;
- Plasmas (Physics);
- Volt-Ampere Characteristics;
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering