A Compulsator Driven Reluctance Coilgun-Type Electromagnetic Launcher

Reluctance coilgun (RCG) is a special coilgun which uses solid ferromagnetic material instead of induction coil as projectile. RCG has shown great advantages and potential in the application of antiterrorism weaponry due to its simplicity, reliability, and excellent controllability. As a compact lightweight pulsed-power supply (PPS), the compensated pulsed alternator (Compulsator) will play a key role in promoting this kind of electromagnetic weapon into practical applications. Focused on a specific RCG which has conductive rails and brushes, this paper deduced the electromagnetic force analytical formula by using the virtual displacement principle and researched the feasibility of the electromagnetic launch design scheme which uses compulsator as the PPS of the RCG system by co-simulation method. Finally, this paper finished tests of the system by taking advantages of a small demonstrative RCG and a scale-model prototype of the compulsator. The results indicate that the design scheme is completely feasible.