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CHAPTER 5
5.1 INTRODUCTION
up of modules called pulse forming unit (PFUs), which are capacitor based
and switched by semiconductors. These PFUs are grouped into several
segments and then the modules in the same segment are switched
simultaneously as shown in Figure 5.1.
CAPACITOR BANK
RACK -1
MODULE 1
PULSE
MODULE 2 SHAPING
INDUCTOR
MODULE 3
CROWBAR
SWITCH
RACK -2
MODULE 1
PULSE RAIL GUN
SHAPING
MODULE 2
INDUCTOR
MODULE 3
CROWBAR PROJECTILE
SWITCH
RACK -3
MODULE 1
PULSE
SHAPING
MODULE 2
INDUCTOR
MODULE 3
CROWBAR
SWITCH
For the past several years, a lot of work has been done on research
and development of PPS based on a pulse forming network. Many researchers
have reported their work on simulation model and real model previously.
Lehmann et al (1995) have presented an overview of what can be done to
enhance the efficiency of a rail launcher fed by capacitor banks by adjusting
the rail design in view to accelerate payloads of several kilograms up to
velocities of few km/s with minimum of charged electrical energy. Wey et al
(1995) have developed the capacitor bank, consisting of two stages is used for
experiments with a 50mm round bore rail gun at a maximum current of 2MA.
The rail gun is fed at two different points in order to test distributed energy
storage system rail gun concept. Deadrick et al (1982) have developed and
validated simulation code at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL) to predict the performance of a rail gun. The code is called
MAGRAC (MAGnetic Rail gun ACCcelerator ), models the performance of a
rail gun, driven by a magnetic flux compression current generator
(MFCG).The MAGRAC code employs a time-step solution of the non-linear
time varying element rail gun circuit to determine rail currents. Emelin et al
(1995) have described the pulse formation of a programmable multi-stage
pulsed power supply for electric rail guns. This power supply allows optimal
operation of the rail gun by maintaining a near constant acceleration force
over the launch period. A 450-kJ pulsed-power supply (PPS) for
electromagnetic launcher has been built up and tested with a short-circuit load
and a rail gun load (Yi Liu 2010). Tatake et al (1994) have developed
simulation code using Pascal language to predict the performance of the rail
gun. Timothy et al (2004) have described the preliminary design assessments
associated with the 200 MJ Naval PoC Facilities. The circuit model was
created using MicroCap™ software to validate the PFN performance at each
of the installation increments. Hildenbrand (1993) has described the simulator
developed for the Army Research, Development and Engineering Center in
1993. The code was in FORTRAN. Jack Bernardes et al (2003) have
154
proposed a generic design for the capacitor based PPS. They simulated the
PPS and rail gun model using Micro-Cap VI, which is an electrical circuit
analysis software package. From the above literature survey, it is found that
worldwide research is on to develop the PPS, with respect to their
requirements, in order to predetermine the performance of rail using various
simulation techniques. In this work, the PSPICE and MATLAB simulation
packages have been used to predict the performance of PPS system.
HV - charger
Charge Dump
Panel Load
(Rail gun)
Resistor network
protection diode PPS-Module
Energy Power
Storage Switch
5.3.1 Capacitor
5.3.2 Switches
1. Spark gap
2. Triggered vacuum switch
157
Solid state power devices consist of a gate, cathode, and anode. The
gate is used to trigger the device by closing the connection between the anode
and cathode. The device can only be turned off, once all the current has been
dumped to zero. The solid state devices are limited by its break over voltage
and di/dt ratings. The solid state devices will fail if either of these two
parameters are exceeded .The different types of solid state switches are given
below
5.3.3 Diode
advantages of crow bar operation are: it increases the life of the energy
storage capacitors, increases energy transfer efficiency, and additional options
for pulse shaping (Rolf Dethlefsen 1993). The diode will immediately begin
to conduct at the peak bank current, therefore it must be rated at the same
standard as the bank switches.
5.3.4 Cable
The cables for the rail gun system must be capable of handling
large currents with minimum power loss. The cable will be self-supporting, co
axial cable as far as electromechanical force is concerned, so conductor
bracing will be eliminated. Another great advantage of the coaxial bus is there
is minimal leakage of coaxial cable (Jiannian Dong et al 2005).This will be
very helpful in minimizing interaction with the data acquisition and control
system.
circuits and parts such as timing and control circuits for the bank isolation
switches, to protect the capacitors that will be required, in order to make the
overall system fully operational. These items are essential to the design and
its safe operation, but will not be considered in this work, as they are not the
main focus of this thesis.
5.4.1 Capacitor
The capacitors used in the 500- kJ PPS system are self healing
metalized electrode capable of storing 50-kJ of energy, designed and
manufactured by General Atomics Electronic Systems Inc. The pulse power
supply (PPS) has to store 500-kJ of energy, hence totally 10 capacitors have
been chosen to design a pulsed power supply using computer simulation.
These capacitors are divided into 5 independently triggerable capacitor bank
modules and each module has two capacitors and they are connected in
parallel. The energy density of capacitor used in the PPS is about 3MJ/m3. The
life duration of capacitor reaches up to 1000 times. The technical data of
3MJ/m3 capacitor is given in Table 5.1.
Capacitance 23685µF
Voltage 6.6kV
Stored energy 50kJ
Pulse discharge current 30kA
Size 112 362 417mm
Internal inductance <500nH
Weight 30kg
All the five banks are identically configured therefore the current
pulse from each bank will also be identical. Each bank consists of total of two
160
5.4.2 Inductor
5.4.3 Fuse
The GA diodes selected for this design have a reverse voltage limit
of 10% of the rated voltage or 6500 V. As the current delivered by each
capacitor bank is 60kA under normal conditions and 120kA under fault
conditions, the diodes have to withstand this current. A total of six diodes in
two stacks parallel, with three diodes in series in each stack, form a crow bar
diode. Each diode is rated at 6 kV and 60 kA for a 8.3-ms half-sinusoid surge
current. The technical data of diode is given in Table 5.3.
switch has to withstand the maximum peak current discharged by the each
capacitor bank. The spark gap used in this design is ST-150 spark gaps rated
at 300 kA with a standoff voltage of 22 kV at zero pressure. The spark gap
switch is manufactured by L3 communication. The switch shows ratings of at
least a factor of three over the required duty in peak currents to ensure long
life and reliability. The spark gaps are connected in series with each capacitor
module. The technical data of the spark gap switch is given in
Table 5.4.
S L R
R’
C Rail impedance
L’
L’ variable inductance
R’ variable resistance
Figure 5.3 An ideal rail gun circuit represented by using RLC circuit
When the switch S is closed, the capacitor will start to discharge the
stored energy into the system. During the discharging time of the capacitor,
the energy stored in a capacitor is transferred to the inductor and inductor gets
charged. The inductor will be fully charged, when the capacitor is completely
discharged and current flowing through circuit will reach to maximum value
at this point. After this point, the current value will exponentially decrease,
until the projectile exits the barrel resulting in an open circuit.
delay between pulses. If the inductance value increases in PPS, the peak
current value delivered to the load decreases and the decaying time of the
pulse current increases. Also when increasing the inductance of the PPS, the
current density in the rails decreases, as it increases the barrel length, but
results in higher barrel current when the projectile leaves the rails. If the delay
times between the banks discharge increases, the peak current value reduces
which result lower acceleration force on the projectile, subsequently the
muzzle velocity also being lower. In order to balance for the loss in velocity,
it is necessary to increase the amount of capacitance in the power supply,
when the voltage is constant. Increasing the capacitance is in disagreement
with the stated objective to minimize the capacitance, and also results in
increased peak current and a current density that may be higher than in the
lower inductance case. From the above discussion, it is clear that designing a
power supply for a rail gun is an exercise in system optimization (Dwight
warnock 2003). In the multiple-bank model, it is possible to shape the pulse
by implementing a non-uniform capacitance and inductance distribution
among banks. The capacitance and inductance values are varied on a per bank
basis. In case of capacitor, it is necessary to keep large percentage of system
capacitor in first bank to deliver a high current to the load and then lower
percentage of system capacitor placed for the following banks to boost the
current. In the case of inductance, initially higher value of system inductance
is placed to limit the peak current and lower value of system inductance is
placed to following bank to reduce the decaying time current, resulting in a
lower exit current (Alexey Alexeev et al 1992). In order to identify optimum
solution for 500-kJ PPS in this work, different types of capacitor banks
connection are studied. Capacitors are grouped into single, double, triple and
five stages. For each capacitor connection pulse shaping inductance value,
peak current at exit, muzzle velocity, peak acceleration, pulse width, and
effective barrel length of the rails are calculated. These values are then used to
estimate the size of the capacitor banks and system inductances.
165
Output function
F1
F
Input function
Figure 5.5 shows the power model used in the simulation. This
model is used to get the powered value of input and it depends on the gain
specified by the user. This model can be used to get the squared value of
166
current in a simulation. When PWR value is 2, this block will square the input
current and gives as an output current.
PWR 2
Power
Figure 5.6 shows the gain model used in the simulation. This model
is used to multiply the given input with the gain specified by the user. This
model can be used to get the acceleration value of the projectile in simulation.
In a simulation, the squared rail current is multiplied by a gain of 7.3066x10-6
using this block and then output is obtained that will be equal to the
acceleration of the projectile.
Gain
1.0
0V
1 X2 4
+ ZX
2 _ Reference 5
1 X1 4
+ ZX 0 0
2 _ Reference 5 3
R1
3
Cable
Rail 2
Rail 1
Pulse shaping
inductance
Projectile
Spark gap
Energy Module
+
HV
_
I 2 L'
a (5.1)
2m
170
6
0.5 1.096 10
a 3
I2 7.3066 10 6 I 2 m/s2 (5.2)
75 10
From the above equation 5.2, it is observed that the squared value
of current has to be multiplied by 7.3066 10-6 to get the acceleration of
projectile in simulation.
d vdt m (5.4)
LC X1 X2
RC + + ZX
Lp
_ _ Reference
Rp 1.096µH
0.101m
Spark
Gap
TG FPOLY
PWR 2 7.3066 x10-6
C D 1.0 1.0
0V 0V
RD C = 23.69 mF
Rp = 6µ v
+ a d
6500V Lp = 5µH
_
LC = 70nH
RC = 60µ
TG = 0.1ms
a = acceleration of the projectile
v = velocity of the projectile
d = distance travelled by the projectile
Figure 5.10 Single stage capacitor bank design using PSPICE simulation
of single stage capacitor bank module, the pulse shaping inductance value
varied from 1µH onwards and the output current is checked. It is observed
that for the inductance value of 5µH, the peak value of the load current is
270kA, which is less than the rated value of SSC bank module. So this value
has been chosen as a pulse shaping inductance value for single stage capacitor
bank module. The other components of pulsed power supply are selected as
per the design requirement and given in Table 5.5.
Number of component
S.No Components Value
required
1 Capacitor C= 2.3685mf 10 capacitors and
U= 50kJ connected in parallel
2. Inductor 5µH 1
3 Spark gap Operating Voltage = 20- 40 4
kV
Peak Current = 300 kA (ST-
150)
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
not gain velocity after this point. It is observed that the effective barrel length
of the rail is 0.3m at 1.5ms.
Distance (m)
Time (ms)
177
178
The components that are used in the five stage capacitor modules
have already been given in section 5.4.
C1 Voltage
Capacitor Voltage (kV)
C2 Voltage
C3 Voltage
C4 Voltage
C5 Voltage
Time (ms)
C1 Current
C2 Current
C3 Current
C4 Current
C5 Current
Time (ms)
Figure 5.19 shows the predicted total current delivered to the rail
gun load obtained using simulation. From the figure, it is observed that the
total current which is delivered by PPS is a composite of the five segment
currents, which are introduced into the breach end of the rail gun at different
times by switching on the segments one by one. It is also observed that the
peak current value delivered by capacitor bank is less than the rated value.(i.e
300kA) From the figure, it is observed that the peak current value of the load
current is 214kA at 3.4ms . It is also observed that current in rail is 142kA at
5ms. This current is called exit current in which projectile gets into the space
from rail.
180
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Case 1. The capacitor banks are fired before the peak level of previous bank
current.
Case 2. The capacitor banks are fired after the peak level of previous bank
current.
C1 Current
C2 Current
C3 Current
C4 Current
C5Current
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Figure 5.24 shows the predicted total current delivered to the rail
gun load obtained using simulation. From the figure, it is observed that
the peak value of load current is 263kA at 1.68ms which is less than the rated
value of PPS. It is also observed that current in rails is 112kA at 5ms. This
current is called exit current in which projectile getting into space from rail.
185
Acceleration (km/s2)
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Distance (m)
Time (ms)
In case study 2, the capacitor banks are fired after the peak level of
previous bank current. The firing time of capacitor banks are randomly
selected to fire the capacitor banks sequentially. In this case, the capacitor
banks are fired at 0.1ms, 1ms, 1.65ms, 2.45 and 3.2ms.
Total load current (kA)
Time (ms)
Distance (m)
Time (ms)
The total load current and projectile position for case 2, obtained
from simulation is shown in figures, Figure 5.28 and Figure 5.29.
From the Table 5.7, it is observed that as the capacitor banks are
fired before the peak level of previous bank
2. The current at exit and the time at peak current values are
decreased.
It is also observed that as the capacitor are fired after the peak level
of previous bank
It is also observed that the 500kJ pulsed power supply can be able
to accelerate a projectile at a velocity of 1.2km/s, when the capacitor banks
are fired before reaching peak level current of previous bank. These
parameters can be chosen as optimized parameters of 500kJ pulsed power
supply.
Figure 5.30 shows, the capacitor based pulsed power supply and
rail gun model designed using MATLAB simulation package. The system has
been divided into energy storage module, rail module and projectile module.
The energy source used in this design is capacitors. An energy storage module
consists of capacitors, spark gap, and a diode. The metalized self healing
capacitors, which are used in a 500-kJ PPS, have a capacitance of 2.3685mF
and 50kJ of energy, and a maximum peak voltage of 6500V D.C. Each
capacitor is capable of delivering a peak current of 30kA under normal
condition. The capacitors are divided into five groups each will have two
capacitors and they are connected in parallel. So the total capacitance in each
bank is 4.767mF and the total energy stored per bank is 100-kJ.
191
192
1
Voltage Discrete time
measurement integrator
+ 1/C
- X v/L
+ ÷
+ L’ is variable -
+
D L'
2
2 Injected
inductance
D = Distance travelled by the projectile
current
L’ = inductance gradient of the rail = 1.096µH/m
di dL
v L i (5.5)
dt dt
where v is the voltage across the inductor and L ' is inductance gradient of
the rails.
193
1
i vdt (5.6)
L
Acceleration Velocity
a v
Discrete Discrete
I |I2| L' X time time
÷ D
Current integrator integrator
Divide Distance
2m
d
vind N (5.7)
dt
Finally, when the armature passes the B-dot probe, the induced
voltage will be positive (Bryan Mcdaniel 2006). In simulation instead of B
dot probe, relays are used to sense the distance traveled by projectile. The
relays send the signal to spark gap switch once the projectile reaches specified
distance. Under normal condition the output of the relay will be zero volts,
once the projectile reaches specified distance the output of relay become one
volt (High level). If the relay output becomes one, the switch which is
connected to the corresponding relay will be closed, so that the spark gap
switch which is connected to that corresponding switch will be triggered.
Timer
Charging
Bank 1 Timer
Bank 2 Distance
Relay 1
Bank 3
Relay 2
Bank 4
Relay 3
Bank 4
Relay 4
protect the power supply. Once the capacitors are charged to its rated voltage,
it will send the signal to all switches which are connected between capacitor
banks and source voltage, which results open the switches. Once the switches
from the source side opens, the relay will send signal to the spark gap switch
which is connected to first capacitor bank (see in Figure 5.33 bank1) and it
gets triggered, once the spark gap gets triggered the current will be flowing
through rails. Remaining capacitor banks spark gap switches are then
triggered by other relays with respect to projectile position. In this work, the
blocks, charging and Bank 1 shown in Figure 5.33 are used to send the signal
to the switches which are connected to them by using the timer block.
4. 1mm, 5mm, 1cm, and 5cm, the rail gun parameters such as
peak current value, peak value of acceleration, muzzle
velocity and effective barrel length of the rails are calculated
for various mass of the projectile using MATLAB simulation.
In order optimize the entire system, first the pulsed power supply is
considered to get desired output current pulse. Initially the B dot positions and
mass of the projectile are assigned as 5cm, 10cm, 40cm, 70cm, and 25grams.
For these rail gun parameters the desired current pulse can be obtained by
varying the C and L of pulse forming network. Since the capacitance is
already selected, in this work, the pulse shaping inductance value is varied.
The pulse shaping inductance value is varied from 10µH onwards and the
output current is checked. Figure 5.34 shows the individual capacitor current
and the total load current delivered to the load, for the inductance value of
10µH, obtained from simulation.
198
C2 Current
C3 Current
C4Current
C5Current
Time (ms)
Total Current
C1Current
C2Current
C3Current
C4Current
C5Current
Time (ms)
Relay 1
Relay 2
Voltage (V)
Relay 3
Relay 4
Time (ms)
Figure 5.36 shows the output pulse from the control circuit for the
B dot probe positions 5cm, 10cm, 40cm, and 70cm. It is observed that before
the projectile reaching projectile to the specified distance of B dot probe the
output of the relay is zero. Once the projectile reaches specified distance the
output of the relay becomes one.
Acceleration (km/s2)
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
Distance (m)
Time (ms)
From the Figure 5.37, it is observed that as the distance between the
B dot probes is high, the firing time between the capacitor banks is higher in
values. It is also observed that the peak acceleration value of the projectile is
1200km/sec2, velocity of the projectile is 2800m/s, and the distance travelled
by the projectile is 4m at 5ms, for the projectile mass of 25 grams. These
values are more than that objective of this thesis. In order to get the desired
values, distances between the B dot probe positions are gradually varied and
muzzle velocity, effective barrel length are calculated. Figure 5.38 shows the
capacitor individual and total load current for the B dot probe positions 1mm,
5mm, 1cm, 5cm and 75 grams of projectile. From the figure, it is observed
that the current delivered by each capacitor bank and the peak current
delivered to the load is less than that it is rated value.
202
C1Current
Total load current (kA)
C2 Current
C3 Current
C4 Current
C5 Current
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
(a) Acceleration of the projectile
203
Time (ms)
Time (ms)
4. 1mm, 5mm, 1cm, and 5cm, and various mass of the projectile
the rail gun parameters such as peak current, time at peak
current value, muzzle velocity and effective barrel length of
rails are calculated and given in Table 5.8.
Table 5.8 Rail gun parameters for different B dot probe positions
Effective Time at
Peak Muzzle
S. Weight Peak barrel peak
Position acceleration Velocity
No (grams) current(kA) length current
(km/s2) (m/s)
(m)
(a) Rail gun parameters for the B dot positions 5cm,10cm, 40cm,70cm
1 25 236 1200 2700 4 4ms
2 50 215 510 1000 1.5 5.2ms
1
3 75 200 290 600 1.2 6.3ms
4 100 188 196 500 1 7.5ms
(b) Rail gun parameters for the B dot positions 5cm, 20cm, 30cm, and 60cm
1 25 240 1250 2500 3.3 4ms
2 50 220 530 1100 1.6 5.2ms
2
3 75 205 357 750 1.3 6.5ms
4 100 193 205 550 1.0 7.5
(c) Rail gun parameters for the B dot positions 5mm, 10cm, 15cm, and 25cm
1 25 247 1340 3350 5 3.3ms
2 50 230 580 1600 2.5 4.2ms
3
3 75 217 340 600 0.8 5.0ms
4 100 206 235 400 0.6 5.8ms
(d) Rail gun parameters for the B dot positions 1mm, 5mm, 1cm, 5cm
1 25 288 1800 5000 11 1.8ms
2 50 280 860 2800 5 2ms
4
3 75 250 520 1250 2 2.2ms
4 100 260 342 1050 1.5 2.5
From the Table 5.8, it is inferred that for the B dot probe positions
1mm, 5mm, 1cm, and 5cm, and 75 grams of projectile, the PPS can be able to
accelerate the projectile with a velocity of about 1.25km/s. These parameters
have been selected as an optimized parameters for 500- kJ pulsed power
supply and the optimized values are given in Table 5.9.
206
Effective
Charging No of Cap. No of capacitor per
barrel
voltage= 6.5kV Banks= 5 bank = 2.
length=2 m
Inductance of the Individual Muzzle -
capacitor Banks = capacitor Velocity =
45µH Value= 1250 m/s
2.3685mF
B dot probe Mass of the Max. Peak acceleration
position projectile = Current= 250 value= 520 km/s2
1mm,5mm,1cm, 75 grams kA
5cm
Rail separation Rail width Rail height Inductance gradient =
=4cm = 4mm = 1cm 1.096µH/m
(simulation)
Method of firing
Rail gun Before reaching to
B dot probe
parameters peak current level of
Positions
previous
1 Bank1=0.1 ms Probe1-1mm
Bank2=0.4ms Probe 2-5mm
Bank3=0.6ms Probe 3-1cm
Bank4=1ms Probe 4-5cm
Bank5 =1.2ms
2 Current pulse width 5ms 5ms
3 Peak current value 263 kA 250 kA
4 Time at Peak current 1.68 ms 2.2ms
value
6 Muzzle velocity 1200m/s 1250m/s
7. Effective barrel 2m 2m
length
The weight and volume occupied by the 500kJ and 4MJ, pulsed
power supply systems are calculated and given in Table 5.11 and Table 5.12.
208
Table 5.11 Volume and weight calculation of 500kJ pulsed power system
No. of
Components Volume
components Weight (kg)
Used (m3)
required
Capacitor 10 0.169 300
Fuse 50 0.0172 100
Diode 30 0.158 150
Spark gap 5 0.182 50
Inductance 5 0.022 20
20% of total volume 0.1204 -
allotted for other
component
Total 0.6686 620
Table 5.12 Volume and weight calculation of 4MJ Pulsed power supply
From the Table 5.11 and Table 5.12, it is observed that the 500-kJ
pulsed power supply needs 0.6686 m3 of volume with a total weight of
620 kg and the 4-MJ pulsed power supply needs 5.1726 m3 of volume with a
total weight of 4880kg. In the total weight of PPS calculation, the weights of
209
the other components are not considered. The volume occupied by the
inductor and its weight have been calculated using inductor calculator
software (www.Olinbrass.com and www. gsu.edu).
5.14 SUMMARY
4- MJ pulsed power supply in a compact space, hence, they needed the weight
and volume occupied by the pulsed power supply. The work has also been
carried out to calculate the approximate weight and volume occupied by the
pulsed power supply using the manufactured data’s. It has been concluded
that the 500-kJ pulsed power supply needed 0.6686 m3 of volume with a total
weight of 620kg and the 4-MJ pulsed power supply needed 5.1726m3of
volume with a total weight of 4880kg.