Study of Discharge Position in Multi-Stage Synchronous Inductive Coilgun

There are many factors which can affect the muzzle velocity of the projectile in the system of the multi-stage synchronous inductive coilgun (SICG), and the discharge position of the armature is important one. If the discharge position of the armature with respect to a drive-coil is changed when a charge capacitor bank is switched into the drive-coil circuit, the muzzle velocity of the projectile launched by the armature will change. In this paper, discharge positions of the armature in a three-stage SICG are investigated. The results indicate that the best discharge position exists in each stage. If the capacitor bank in each stage is switched into the drive-coil circuit when the armature passes through the best discharge position in this stage, the projectile can be accelerated to the maximal muzzle velocity. The best discharge positions in the three-stage SICG are obtained.