Study on a long primary moving-magnet type linear electromagnetic catapult

A long primary moving-magnet type linear electromagnetic catapult is investigated in this paper. The novel launcher based on moving-magnet type linear permanent magnet brushless DC motor (LPMBLDCM) is proposed. The magnetic and mechanical model of LPMBLDCM is researched with an emphasis of magnetic field analytic model, and also its working principle is proposed. The electromagnetic performance and thrust characteristic have been analyzed through finite element analysis(FEA). Simulation results are presented by Maxwell Ansoft 2-D transient solver. Some relevant experiments are also executed to verify the simulated results. The measured and simulated results can provide useful references to design LPMBLDCM for electromagnetic catapult.