A 16 MJ compact pulsed power system for electromagnetic launch

作者：Ling Dai, Qin Zhang, Heqing Zhong, Fuchang Lin, Hua Li, Yan Wang, Cheng Su, Qinghua Huang, Chen Xu · 发表于：Review of Scientific Instruments · 年份：2015 · DOI：10.1063/1.4921910 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Electromagnetic Launch and Propulsion Technology、Pulsed Power Technology Applications、Gyrotron and Vacuum Electronics Research

This paper has established a compact pulsed power system (PPS) of 16 MJ for electromagnetic rail gun. The PPS consists of pulsed forming network (PFN), chargers, monitoring system, and current junction. The PFN is composed of 156 pulse forming units (PFUs). Every PFU can be triggered simultaneously or sequentially in order to obtain different total current waveforms. The whole device except general control table is divided into two frameworks with size of 7.5 m × 2.2 m × 2.3 m. It is important to estimate the discharge current of PFU accurately for the design of the whole electromagnetic launch system. In this paper, the on-state characteristics of pulse thyristor have been researched to improve the estimation accuracy. The on-state characteristics of pulse thyristor are expressed as a logarithmic function based on experimental data. The circuit current waveform of the single PFU agrees with the simulating one. On the other hand, the coaxial discharge cable is a quick wear part in PFU because the discharge current will be up to dozens of kA even hundreds of kA. In this article, the electromagnetic field existing in the coaxial cable is calculated by finite element method. On basis of the calculation results, the structure of cable is optimized in order to improve the limit current value of the cable. At the end of the paper, the experiment current wave of the PPS with the load of rail gun is provided.