Measurements at the ISL-EMA 1 railgun facility

Author

Wey, J. ; Peter, H.

Author_Institution

French-German Res. Inst., Saint-Louis, France

Volume

27

Issue

1

fYear

1991

fDate

1/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

172

Lastpage

175

Abstract

The instrumentation of a 500 kJ, 15 mm-bore-diameter railgun and the power switching are described in detail. Emphasis is on electrooptical measurement techniques. The results presented include electrical measurements on the switching circuit, breech and muzzle voltages, and projectile position. In addition, material problems concerning rail erosion with plasma-driven projectiles are discussed. After ten shots with peak currents up to 600 kA, rails and insulators were fully operational. The rail material loss has been tolerable. The surface roughness increased remarkably, due to the formation of a porous, heterogeneous, nearly insulating surface layer of variable thickness

Keywords

electromagnetic launchers; plasma devices; projectiles; switches; velocity measurement; voltage measurement; 15 mm; 500 kJ; 600 kA; ISL-EMA 1 railgun facility; Institute Saint-Louis; breech; electrooptical measurement techniques; heterogeneous surface layer; instrumentation; muzzle voltages; nearly insulating surface layer; plasma-driven projectiles; porous surface layer; power switching; projectile position; rail erosion; rail material loss; surface roughness; switching circuit; Electric variables measurement; Instruments; Insulation; Measurement techniques; Plasma measurements; Projectiles; Railguns; Rails; Rough surfaces; Surface roughness;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.101018

Filename

101018