Design, Construction, and Testing of an Inductive Pulsed-Power Supply for a Small Railgun

Abstract

Abstract-Advances in high-power-density batteries have rekindled interest in using inductive store as a pulse compression system. Although these batteries are considered very power dense, they lack over an order of magnitude of power density to drive a deployable electric gun. However, one can add an inductive circuit to a battery bank to make a hybrid system that has a much higher power density than batteries alone. A battery-inductor hybrid pulsed-power supply boasts several advantages over pulsed alternators, as inductors are static and relatively easy to cool. Inductors are potentially more energy dense than capacitors, making a battery-inductor hybrid pulsed-power supply an attractive alternative to capacitor-based pulsed-power supplies. The opening switch has been a major obstacle in previous inductive store projects, but in simulation, a new circuit topology-the Slow TRansfer of Energy Through Capacitive Hybrid (STRETCH) meat grinder-greatly attenuates the problem. This paper discusses the design, construction and testing of a small-scale STRETCH meat grinder system designed which was successfully used to power a miniature railgun.

Overview of circuit topologies for inductive pulsed power supplies

“…The STRETCH meat grinder was proposed by Alex Sitzman and et al from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 [23]- [25]. Its schematic is shown in Fig.…”

Design and Control of an Underwater Launch System

“…The main principle of the design is to use DC current to provide all of the forces required to launch the projectile. In order to increase the efficiency of the design, an inductor charging system can be used in place of pulsed alternators or bulky capacitors to power the railgun [17]. This design would also minimize the size of the system and could use batteries to power the system as well.…”

A New Modular XRAM-Like Inductive High- Current Pulse Generator Circuit Topology

“…However, a very high voltage is generated across the main opening switch. On this issue, the slow transfer of energy through capacitive hybrid (STRETCH) meat grinder circuit is presented in [10], [11]. By adding an auxiliary capacitor in the traditional meat grinder circuit, the voltage stress of the opening switch is reduced.…”