Capacitive pulsed power supply systems for ETC guns

Compact pulsed power supplies are required for electrothermal-chemical (ETC) guns to be installed in combat fighting vehicles. In order to meet the requirements for integration of pulsed power supply (PPS) systems in such vehicles, components with high degrees of energy and power density as well as complex system designs need to be realized. This paper gives the basic electric requirements of medium- and large-caliber ETC guns to be fulfilled by the appropriate PPS systems. From these requirements, design criteria for high-energy discharge modules and their auxiliary systems are derived. The design of a 120-kJ capacitor module to be applied for the large-caliber ETC gun currently under investigation at Rheinmetall, Unterleuss, Germany, is described. Finally, the paper gives some basic considerations on volume and weight requirements of capacitive PPS systems to be applied for rapid-fire and single-shot ETC guns due to the current status of the investigations at Rheinmetall.