Gt-devices

USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Niels K Winsor

Yeshayahu Shyke Goldstein

Derek A Tidman

Rodney L Burton

Dennis W Massey

Wallace M Manheimer

A projectile is accelerated in a barrel bore by applying a plasma jet to a projectile propelling fluid. The plasma jet is derived from a structure forming a capillary passage having a wall formed by a low molecular weight, dielectric powdery filler or water in many rigid containers, shaped as spheres or straw-like tubes having axes parallel to the passage longitudinal axis. The fluid and jet interact so the fluid is heated by the jet, whereby low atomic weight constituents of the fluid are sufficiently heated to become mixed with the plasma to form a high pressure mixture that is injected into the bore to accelerate the projectile. The fluid is dragged into the plasma during mixing to cool the plasma and form a boundary layer between the plasma and the barrel walls so that the mixture does not cause substantial damage to the walls of the bore. The plasma is energized by applying voltage from an electric pulse source to electrodes at opposite ends of the passage. The pulse has a wave shape and duration for initially igniting the plasma source and for thereafter applying energy to the ignited plasma to control the pressure of the mixture. Initially, the fluid cools the plasma without the mixture developing sufficient pressure to accelerate the projectile appreciably. The wave shape and duration are such that the pressure applied to the projectile remains substantially constant while the projectile is being accelerated through the barrel, as occurs during about one-half of the projectile travel time in the barrel.

Plasma propulsion apparatus and method

A plasma electrothermal thruster includes a capillary passage in which a plasma discharge is formed and directed out of an open end of the passage into a supersonic nozzle. Liquid supplied to the capillary passage becomes partially atomized to cool a confining surface of the passage. The plasma discharge is formed as the atomized liquid flows out of the open end into a supersonic equilibrium nozzle. The discharge can have a duration greater than the two way travel time of acoustic energy in the capillary to cause the plasma to flow continuously through the nozzle during the time of the discharge pulse.

Pulsed electrothermal thruster

A projectile is accelerated through a gun barrel bore by a cartridge containing a high temperature, high pressure plasma jet source. The cartridge has a geometry enabling it to be loaded into a breech bore of the gun. The plasma jet is supplied to the rear of the projectile and is derived by a tube having an interior wall forming a capillary passage. A discharge voltage applied between spaced regions along the capillary passage ionizes a dielectric to form a plasma. First and second ends of the passage are respectively open and blocked to enable and prevent the flow of plasma through them. The blocked end closes the breech bore.

Cartridge containing plasma source for accelerating a projectile

A pulse forming network, responsive to a DC power supply, supplies predetermined current waveforms to a load in response to commands from a programmed source. Plural inductors are connected to switches responsive to commands from the programmed source. The switches are controlled to couple the inductors to the DC source to charge the inductors to a predetermined current level that is maintained substantially constant. The predetermined current level in each inductor is supplied to the load by switches controlled by the programmed source so that during successive intervals the predetermined constant current levels from differing numbers of the inductors flow from the inductors to the load. The inductance of each inductor, the load impedance and the duration current is supplied to the load by the inductors are such that the predetermined current level supplied by each inductor to the load is maintained relatively constant.

Pulse synthesizing network and method

An intense, space-charge-neutralized, pulsed ion beam is used to heat a magnetically-confined plasma, such as tokamak plasma, by injecting the ion beam into the plasma along a trajectory that is generally tangential to the confining magnetic field. The intense ion beam is injected into the tokamak before the plasma is fully formed, the remainder of the plasma is formed around the beam, and the beam transfers its energy to the plasma by classical collisions with the electrons and ions of the plasma. Heating of the plasma can be sufficient to produce breakeven or ignition.

Tokamak plasma heating with intense, pulsed ion beams

An intense, space-charge-neutralized, pulsed ion beam is used to heat a metically-confined plasma, such as a tokamak plasma, by injecting the ion beam into the plasma along a trajectory that is generally tangential to the confining magnetic field. The ion beam inductively generates a plasma return current so that no net current is produced. As the ion beam drifts in the plasma, the confining magnetic field is transformed into one which can trap the ion beam at the center of the plasma. Once the ion beam is trapped, the plasma return current is cancelled by transformer action to produce a net current which is carried by the ion beam alone. The beam transfers its energy to the plasma by classical collisions with the electrons and ions of the plasma. Heating of the plasma can be sufficient to produce a breakeven condition or ignition.

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Alexandria, VA, United States of America

Niels K Winsor