The University of Texas System

Mike L Spann

William F Weldon

Dennis Roger Peterson

Raymond C Zowarka

Siddharth B Pratap

John H Gully

Jim L Upshaw

W Alan Walls

Damon A Weeks

A high-energy output, air-core pulsed alternator utilizes stacked armature coils mounted on the outer periphery of an armature rotor. The stacked coils are symmetrically arranged with respect to one another so as to balance axial or longitudinal forces exerted upon the rotor for high energy pulsed output. The alternator may also include any load device which requires high energy output such as, but not limited to, an electromagnetic railgun.

Symmetric armature for high current, air-core pulsed alternators

A railgun operates at high pressure (up to 350 MPa) without structural damage and is readily disassembled for inspection, maintenance and component testing. A rail assembly is pressed into a hoop-wound epoxy fiberglass containment tube and clamped within a steel compression frame. The geometry of the rail assembly permits rail movement without insulator intrusion and achieves bore sealing during rail movement at maximum pressure. The rail assembly also has replaceable insulator inserts which are isolated from rail re-bound shock. Fused quartz insulator inserts provide the best results. A flash tube is provided at the gun muzzle to suppress precursor discharge and commutate precursor current back to the armature. To realize increased velocity without sacrificing in-bore projectile stability, a cut-corner projectile is used having a L/D ratio as small as 0.65 which reduces the mass by about 11%.

High performance electromagnetic railgun launcher

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

Mike L Spann