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California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Master's Theses

2013

Railgun

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

System Design Considerations And The Feasibility Of Passively Compensated, Permanent Magnet, Iron-Core Compulsators To Power Small Railgun Platforms, Collin Taylor Macgregor Aug 2013

System Design Considerations And The Feasibility Of Passively Compensated, Permanent Magnet, Iron-Core Compulsators To Power Small Railgun Platforms, Collin Taylor Macgregor

Master's Theses

This thesis provides insight into the different aspects of compulsator design for use with railgun systems. Specifically, the design space is explored for passively compensated, permanent magnet iron-core compulsators. Seven design parameters are varied within a compulsator model developed for the Cal Poly Compulsator (CPCPA). The Matlab code for this model is included within the appendix. Efforts were made to compare and validate this compulsator model to published data from existing systems. The compulsator model was found to match closely with discharge pulse length, but resulted in lower values for peak current and projectile velocity by 50% and 30% respectively …


Improvement Of Electromagnetic Railgun Barrel Performance And Lifetime By Method Of Interfaces And Augmented Projectiles, Aleksey D. Pavlov Jun 2013

Improvement Of Electromagnetic Railgun Barrel Performance And Lifetime By Method Of Interfaces And Augmented Projectiles, Aleksey D. Pavlov

Master's Theses

Several methods of increasing railgun barrel performance and lifetime are investigated. These include two different barrel-projectile interface coatings: a solid graphite coating and a liquid eutectic indium-gallium alloy coating. These coatings are characterized and their usability in a railgun application is evaluated. A new type of projectile, in which the electrical conductivity varies as a function of position in order to condition current flow, is proposed and simulated with FEA software. The graphite coating was found to measurably reduce the forces of friction inside the bore but was so thin that it did not improve contact. The added contact resistance …