Calculation of Turn Skipping Losses in Helical Flux Compression Generators

In helical flux compression generators, the ohmic and intrinsic flux losses limit severely the performance of them. One of the sources of intrinsic flux losses is the turn skipping flux loss. This paper first introduces an accurate criterion for the prevention of the turn skipping phenomenon in these generators. Then, a novel method is presented to calculate the flux loss due to this phenomenon. In addition, an equivalent resistance is introduced to consider the effect of turn skipping flux loss on the generator performance. The calculation results show that, as soon as the turn skipping occurs, about 30% of a turn flux is lost and this value is increased rapidly with eccentricity increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent this phenomenon as far as possible. The calculated output current of the simulated generator also shows that the maximum current when considering the turn skipping loss is about 15% of the maximum current in the case of ignoring it. Based on the authors' knowledge, quantification of the turn skipping flux losses has not been presented previously in the open literature.