Geometry and Power Optimization of Coilgun Based on Adaptive Genetic Algorithms

A coilgun is an electromagnetic launcher based on electromagnetic induction. The projectile with a heavy load can be accelerated to a high speed. The currents that flow through the driving coils and the projectile would produce joule losses. All of the properties are drastically determined by the geometry and power of a coilgun. This paper aims to optimize the geometry and power parameters of the coilgun. The muzzle velocity is selected to be the objective when the temperature rise limitations are taken into consideration. To analyze the performance, an equivalent circuit model including the calculation of temperature rises is employed. The performance of a three-stage coilgun is calculated based on this model and then this coilgun is optimized with the utility of adaptive genetic algorithm taking the influence of temperature rise into consideration. The result of optimization shows that the muzzle velocity is improved and the temperature rises are conformed to the design requirements. The optimized coilgun is simulated by the finite-element method to verify the performance.