Testing of an Air Core Compulsator Driven 0.60 Caliber Railgun System

The Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin (CEM-UT) is testing a laboratory based, small caliber, electromagnetic launcher and compensated pulsed alternator power supply. The objective of the program is to develop a compact, lightweight test bed capable of accelerating a salvo of three, 32-g masses to 2 km/s at a rate of 10 Hz. The 0.60 caliber, augmented railgun is powered by an 850 kg self-excited, air-core compulsator which develops 674 MW peak power delivered through a solid state, silicon controlled rectifier closing switch. The incremental test plan has completed testing of the system at the 16000 rpm level with current plans to proceed to 21000 rpm. System test data including self-excitation experiments are presented.