Optimizating the Energy Storage Configuration of a Single Stage Coilgun to Maximize Efficiency

Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) has been exploring methods of maximizing coilgun electrical-to-kinetic energy transfer efficiency by optimizing the geometries of wire-wound drive coils and armatures. Such optimization permits a reduction in the number of stages for a multistage coilgun, thus decreasing its design complexity and power requirements. NSWCDD applied optimal design trends to the coilgun geometry and its energy storage configuration to build a single stage coilgun capable of launching a 447-g projectile to 144 mph, resulting in an efficiency of 14.47%. To date, this is the highest experimentally achieved efficiency of a single stage coilgun without the use of cooling or initial armature velocity. The efficiency may be determined by the drive coil current measurements with and without the armature, as an alternative to knowing the speed and mass of the armature.