Brush rail motor and EM brushguns

Based on the talk delivered at IEEE Pulsed Power Conference 2015, the paper presents the result of a long quest for a better way to convert electric energy into kinetic energy of projectiles in EM launchers [1-6]. Central to it is a novel homopolar linear motor. Its stripped to the metal structure is shown here: Like a simple railgun, it has no permanent magnets and no windings. GEDI Lab is a short name for General Electrodynamics International LLC, founded to explore and promote this concept. The startup grew out of a hobby lab, and so far it has not progressed too far from that. Its mission is to build and test prototypes of the novel motor and launchers derived from it, and thus pioneer broader development of this innovative EML technology. In a few months, a prototype launch system we are currently building will be ready for testing. It should allow us to accelerate 1 kg aluminum slug shown below to well over 1 km/s, and smaller ones to ~3-4 km/s.