Investigation of armature capture effect on synchronous induction coilgun

In order to obtain high velocity and high energy conversion efficiency on synchronous induction coilgun, the armature capture effect which is the inherent characteristic for the coilgun need to be analyzed. The reason for armature capture effect is firstly deduced and analyzed through lumped-element circuit model, and then the quantificational result is obtained based on the field-circuit coupled model. According to the analytic result, the method to minimize the armature capture effect is proposed from the viewpoint of the magnetic couple between the driving coil and armature. Several measures are analyzed through the finite element simulation. The simulation result shows that adjusting the power parameters, such as adding the capacitance or initial voltage, and decreasing the crowbar resistance, and adjusting armature parameters, such as decreasing the mass or changing the structure, can minimize the armature capture effect and increase the system efficiency. The measures are validated through a 4-stage induction coilgun. Comparing the experimental result with the simulation result, adjusting the armature parameter which minimizes the armature capture effect accords with the fact well. It provides valuable reference for induction coilgun design.