Explosive opening switch work at Westinghouse

Author

Aivaliotis, E. ; Peterhans, M.

Author_Institution

Westinghouse Electr. Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Volume

25

Issue

1

fYear

1989

fDate

1/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

40

Lastpage

45

Abstract

An explosive switch that commutated 315 kA into a resistor and a second version designed to switch up to 1 MA into an HPG (homopolar generator) -driven railgun system are presented. These switches are located very near the load and consist of a set of main busbars in a low-inductance configuration shorted by a thinner switch busbar. Linear-shaped charges are used to sever this switch busbar at several locations when a preselected current level is attained, commutating the current into the load. The feasibility of multishot explosive switches for electromagnetic-launch systems is also considered

Keywords

busbars; electromagnetic launchers; homopolar generators; power supplies to apparatus; pulsed power technology; switches; 1 MA; 315 kA; current level; electromagnetic-launch systems; explosive opening switch; homopolar generator; multishot explosive switches; railgun system; thinner switch busbar; Circuits; Conducting materials; Explosives; Inductance; Projectiles; Railguns; Resistors; Switches; Testing; Timing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.22501

Filename

22501