• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.213-224
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• 2017

The electromagnetic field can cause an essential change of the dynamic behavior of the railgun. The evaluation of the dynamics performance of railgun is a mandatory task. Here, a nonlinear electromagnetic force equation of the railgun is given in which the clearance, the thickness and the width of the rail are considered. Based on it, the nonlinear electromechanical coupled dynamics equations of Euler beam rails for the railgun are proposed. Using the equations, the nonlinear free vibration frequency of the railgun is investigated and the effects of the system parameters on the frequency are analyzed. The nonlinear forced responses of the rail to the electromagnetic excitation are investigated as well. The results show that as the nonlinearity of the railgun system is considered, the vibration frequencies of the railgun system increase; as the current in the rail increases, the difference between the natural frequencies and the nonlinear vibration frequencies increases significantly; the nonlinearity of the railgun system is more obvious for smaller distance between the two rails, smaller rail thickness, and smaller stiffness of the elastic foundation; the unstable dynamics state of the rail system occurs when the armature runs to the exit of the railgun. The results are useful for design and application of the railgun system.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.511-518
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• 2021

To accelerate a launch mass with a low level of pressure as possible in a railgun, it is required to hold supplied current nearly constant during launch phase. We obtained the discharging conditions for required current shaping by modeling and analysis of circuit equations coupled to acceleration equation of the launch mass. The acceleration characteristics of the railgun in the conditions were analyzed by comparing experimental and theoretical results.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.848-855
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• 1987

The currents in the rails of an electromagnetic railgun are concentrated in a near surface region. In order to understand this phenomenon, this paper deals with computation of the current distribution related to skin effect in a railgun. An analytical solution is obtained for a twodimensional model. It is found that current concentration at the interface between the rails and the armature is affected by the velocity, length and conductivity of the armature, that skin effect in the rails is affected by the relative velocity between the rails and the armature rather than other factors, and that skin depth in the rails is inversely proportional nearly to the square root of the velocity.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.694-701
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• 1988

Distributed-type railguns are designed to maintain the armature current and the length between the armature and the current-feed region nearly constant with time. This paper deals with factors affecting current distribution, effective resistance and effective skin depth in the rail of a distributed-type railgun. Analytical solutions for the current distributions and resistance in the rail are presented for a simple two-dimensional model under steady-state contions. For diffusion limited current, it is found that effective rail resistance is proportional to the square root of the relative velocity, the permeability of the rail and the length between the armature and that effective skin depth of the rail is proportional to the square root of the length and inversely proportional to the square root of the permeability, the conductivity and the velocity.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.59-64
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• 2001

The distribution of current in the conductors influenced by the armature geometry and velocity is an important parameter for determining performance of an electromagnetic launcher(EML). the electric current in the early launching stage tends to flow on the outer surfaces of the conductors, resulting in very high local electric current density. However, the tendency for current to concentrate on the surface is driven by the velocity skin effect later in launching stage. The high current density produces high local heating and, consequently, increases armature wear which causes several defects on EML system. This paper investigates the effects of rail/armature geometry on current density distribution, launcher inductance gradient (L'), and contact force. Three geometrical parameters are used here to characterize the railgun system. These are the ratio of contact length to root length, relative position of contact leading edge to root trailing edge, and the ratio of rail overhang to the rail height. The distribution of current density, L', contact force between various configurations of the armature and the rail are analyzed and compared by using the EMAP3D program.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.857-864
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• 2016

Many plane, UAV and drone fly in the sky as development of aviation industry. Plane and UAV fly and drone's propellers rotate so fast. Impact between flying objects which have high velocity threats passengers. Also the impact damages people, building and various property. Plane's operating speed is near sound velocity(340m/s), and propeller's rotating speed is less than that. Until now, impact experiment uses gas gun to get speed and the gun needs large space to entirely air expansion. Electromagnetic launcher, especially railgun, needs smaller space than gas gun to get enough speed about 500m/s. This paper explains electromagnetic launcher's operating principle, shows making electromagnetic launcher design guide line and suggests that it is a better apparatus to get low-high velocity.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.481-486
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• 2013

An electromagnetic launcher (EML) system accelerates and launches a projectile by converting electric energy into kinetic energy. There are two types of EML systems under development: the rail gun and the coil gun. A railgun comprises a pair of parallel conducting rails, along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that flows down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail, but the high mechanical friction between the projectile and the rail can damage the projectile. A coil gun launches the projectile by the attractive magnetic force of the electromagnetic coil. A higher projectile muzzle velocity needs multiple stages of electromagnetic coils, which makes the coil gun EML system longer. As a result, the installation cost of a coil gun EML system is very high due to the large installation site needed for the EML. We present a coil gun EML system that has a new structure and arrangement for multiple electromagnetic coils to reduce the length of the system. A mathematical model of the proposed coil gun EML system is developed in order to calculate the magnetic field and forces, and to simulate the muzzle velocity of a projectile by driving and switching the electric current into multiple stages of electromagnetic coils. Using the proposed design, the length of the coil gun EML system is shortened by 31% compared with a conventional coil gun system while satisfying a target projectile muzzle velocity of over 100 m/s.