Electromagnetic coil gun - Construction and basic simulation

Abstract

A single-stage, sensorless, coil gun was designed to demonstrate the capability to accelerate a ferromagnetic projectile to high velocity. This paper summarizes all important steps during coil gun design, such as physical laws of the coil gun, preliminary calculations, the testing device and the final product. The electromagnetic FEA model of the capacitor-driven inductance coil gun was constructed to be able to optimize the coil's dimensions. The driving circuit was implemented as a dynamic model for the simulation of current. The coil gun was not designed for really shooting applications, i.e. the projectile is accelerated to a relatively low speed. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.