AUTOMATIC PROJECTILE

PROPULSION SYSTEM

Abstract:
 Nowadays, the requirement for natural fuels is going up in an
increased scale, but the available amount of natural fuel resources is going
down in a steep rate. Also, the amount of pollution in the atmosphere is
becoming a great threat to mankind. It is the duty of engineers to overcome
these difficulties by effectively cultivating alternative energy for the essential
needs. This project undoubtedly, is one of the kinds by manipulating the most
effective electrical energy, which has proved its importance since Edison
invented Electrical bulb.
The prevailing scenario, the Projectiles widely referred as bullets
use only the very ancient source for propulsion i.e., the gun powder is used. The
gun powder used in these propulsion systems is very costly. Then the design of
projectile has to be precise, or else it might end up in an accident for the user.
Also there are added difficulties in handling and storage of those weapons.
In our project, we use the magnetic energy in the place of gun
powder for projectile propulsion. Here, electromagnetic coils are used, that
could be energized and their electromagnetic force generated is utilized to make
the projectile propel in the direction of the target at great speeds. As the speed
of the projectile can be easily varied, variable ranging can be achieved easily by
varying magnetic flux created at small time. This automatic propulsion system
allows manual control too. The automatic control is handled by a
microcomputer programmed efficiently, so that it could detect objects in
vicinity and launch the projectile automatically or by command. It has an option
of alarm to alert the personnel in the environment when an obstacle in tracking
zone is detected. This gadget is a wall mounting type that can be mounted on
walls of potentially high security zones. Economically this propulsion system is
very much considerable, as our nation imports costly weapons to secure our
peoples peaceful lives, and can be manufactured in home country with our own
natural and human resources.

AUTOMATIC PROJECTILE PROPULSION SYSTEM:

 There are three important stages required to construct and make the
automatic projectile propulsion system working. The stages are

 Coil and trigger section

 Drive system and controller
 Infra red detector

WORK OF COIL AND TRIGGER SECTION

It has to accelerate a piece of iron or steel through a tube. The tube

is mounted with an electromagnetic coil. There are no sparks or noise or parts to
wear out. The principle of magnetic attraction draws the projectile along at
rapidly increasing speed. This effect is timed so that the field lasts only up to
few milliseconds. Therefore the magnetic field intensity reaches maximum level
when the projectile is halfway through the electromagnet.

Hardware components required to make coil and trigger section

are,

 Electromagnetic coil
 Low internal resistance capacitor
 Capacitor charger
 Switching device

ELECTROMAGNETIC COIL
Number of Turns
The number of turns will have a direct effect on the coil's D.C. resistance. A
large resistance will decrease the current, if the power supply is not changed.
The coil's magnetic field is directly proportional to the number of turns which
is actually turns/inch, and to the coil current. Performance can be maximized
piling on turns and increasing the current.

Steps To Get Maximum Efficiency

1. Storing maximum energy in the form of magnetic field around a coil.

2. Using a projectile that can couple with the field as much as possible, and
has the minimum mass possible.

When you put the projectile near the coil, the system seeks the minimum energy
state. That occurs when the projectile is in the center of the coil. So the system
dumps a bunch of mechanical energy into the projectile so that it can finally
reach that minimum energy state.

Limitations in Designing the Coil

1) Current density
Current density inside the wire gets too high; the coil cannot
dissipate the heat fast enough. You can get around it a little bit by reducing the
duty cycle, but eventually the wire melts during a single shot. Thicker wire is
better to handle high currents.

2) Instantaneous Current
The economical way to supply huge current is by using big
capacitors. Their physical dimensions play an important role in defining the
portability of the system. These physical dimensions are a trade-off between the
capacitance and the WVDC (Working Voltage DC) rating.
3) Output Current
There are limits to managing high currents. The 2N2955 are rated
for 15A continuous current, or 150W total power dissipation. You could use
another device with higher ratings. For example, the IGBT is intended for
electric motor control and can handle a lot more current.

Magnet Wire

This is copper or aluminum wire with a thin insulation to prevent

short circuits. It is single-strand wire insulated with enamel, varnish, cotton,
glass, asbestos or a combination.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

thermal classes of insulation, defined by upper temperature limits at which the
untreated insulation will have a life expectancy of at least 20,000 hours, are

• O for 176F (80C)

• A for 221F (105C)

• B for 266F (130C)

• F for 311F (155C)

• H for 356F (180C)

In general, materials such as cotton, paper, and silk are class O.

Organic materials, such as oleo resinous and Formvar enamels, varnish-treated
cotton, paper, and silk are class A. Asbestos, mica, silicone varnishes, and
polyamide are class H, while various synthetic enamels fall in the B and F
classes. The polyesterimide enamels, however, are capable of withstanding
temperatures of 356-392F (180-200C).

Almost all magnet wire is insulated soft-drawn electrolytic

copper, but aluminum is being used more, due to scarcity and high cost of
copper. Round aluminum wire, being soft flattens under pressure giving a
higher space factor in coils. At temperatures above 392F (200C) copper
oxidizes rapidly. It also becomes brittle when under stress at such temperatures.

Current ratings

Wire size has to be chosen that will greatly exceed the current
rating for its size. The most relevant would be its fuse rating or short-circuit
current.

A 0.5 mm^2 wire is rated at 3A in some applications but will carry

over 8A in free air without overheating.

Some typical current ratings are:

Maximum current ratings for copper wire

A/mm2 R/mOhm/m I/A
6 3.0 55
10 1.8 76
16 1.1 105
25 0.73 140
35 0.52 173
50 0.38 205
Wire Sizes used in Fuses

The Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers lists the following formula:

33 * (I/A) ^2 * S = log ((Tm - Ta) / (234 + Ta) + 1)

• I = current in Amperes

• A = area of wire in circ. mils

 • S = time the current flows in seconds

• Tm = melting point, C (copper's melting point is 1083 C)

• Ta = ambient temp, C

Measuring the Coil Strength

First length of the screw is to be measured. Then these steps are followed to
obtain coil strength

1. Position the coil above the projectile.

2. Measure the height from the table to the coil.

3. The coil is held steady.

4. The supply voltage is gradually increased, and the exact voltage at which
the screw is barely lifted from the table is noted. This force is by
definition precisely one G.

5. This measurement is repeated by varying the height and voltage.

Adding External Iron

Air coil is taken and an iron is placed in the flux return path around
the coil. Adding iron increases the total magnetic flux, by adding its
magnetization to the field. The iron also guides the flux toward the firing tube,
where it is much closer to the projectile.

Adding external iron is cheap and easy to do. Just add a flat washer
or two onto each end, and enclose the coil in an iron pipe. An exploded view is
shown here, cut in half to show the interior.

However,
this is not very good for heat dissipation. It is going to take longer for the
assembly to cool off after each shot. This iron will saturate at very large values
of magnetic flux.

Magnetic Field Lines

 The above figure illustrates how the external field is very small
because the iron carries most of the magnetization. The total magnetic flux is
large because it is primarily guided through the iron parts.

This is a cross-sectional view of the coil surrounded by iron. The

object in the middle is the projectile. The thin strips at the corners are the iron.
The thin black lines indicate the flux lines.

The washers are with a slightly larger outside diameter than the
pipe. The washers are left and right ends of the coil. They are larger than the
pipe because, in an effort to get a very tight fit and squeeze sections of pipe
between washers. An external clamp will ensure they remain tight. Any air gap
should be minimized.

Overview of Current Scenario

Recent advances in energy storage, switching and magnetic

technology make electromagnetic acceleration a viable alternative to chemical
propulsion for certain tasks, and a means to perform other tasks. Launchers of
interest include the dc rail-gun driven by energy stored as inertial in a homo-
polar generator and transferred through a switching inductor, and the opposite
extreme, the synchronous mass driver energized by a high voltage alternator
through an oscillating coil-capacitor circuit. A novel system described here is
the momentum transformer which transfers momentum from a massive
chemically driven armature to a much lighter, higher velocity projectile by
magnetic flux compression. Potential applications include the acceleration of
gram-size particles for hypervelocity research and can be use as reaction
engines in space transport; high velocity artillery; stretcher-size tactical supply
and medical evacuation vehicles; the launching of space cargo or nuclear waste
in one-ton packets using off-peak electric power.

Background

Magnetic guns and launchers have received periodic attention for

many years. The fact that none of these evolved into a practical device reflects
largely the immaturity of required support technology and lack of coordinated
follow-up programs.

Since 1972 considerable attention has been devoted to linear

electric motors in the context of air cushion and magnetically levitated high
speed trains; an extensive review published in 1975 contains over 140
references. Most early efforts utilized linear induction motors (LIMs) which do
not lend them to high acceleration.

High Power Coil Driver

The general idea is to use a high-current PNP transistor (Q2 = 2N2955),

to bring the bottom end of the coil to near ground. The other end of the coil is
attached to the high-power driver, VDD = +15 VDC. When Q2 is turned on, it
goes into saturation. That means there is only 0.2v between its collector and
emitter.
 One end is at +15 VDC, and the other is at 0.2 volts. So the current
through a 5-ohm coil will be the voltage v divided by resistance r, or (15 -
0.2)/5 or almost 3 amps. For a comfortable design margin, Q2 has to be driven
fully on with at least 5 amps output current capability.

The base current required to turn on a 2N2955 is the final current

divided by the transistor gain B (beta). With minimum beta B of 20, the
necessary Q2 base current is 5/20 = 0.25 amps base current. It is higher than a
typical JK flip-flop can provide. So another transistor, Q1, can be used to drive
the 2N2955. Both transistors have to be driven into saturation for maximum
current handling and minimum collector-emitter voltage drop.

The base current required to turn on the 2N2222 will be its output
current divided by its gain B (beta). Its gain is at a minimum B = 25, then its
base current must be at least 250mA/25 = 10 mA. This is easily provided by a
TTL chip such as a JK flip flop. The low-power LS family 74LS73 cannot
source high currents.

The transistors should be protected from the coil's kickback voltage. When its
magnetic field collapses as the output transistor turns off, a high voltage spike is
generated. This can easily overcome a transistor's maximum breakdown
voltage. So a protection diode is provided across the coil, which passes current
to keep its forward voltage drop down to about 0.7v.

The 2N2222 configuration also provides another piece of protection for the
sensitive TTL logic. A typical failure mode of output transistors is to short the
collector to the base. With this 2N2222, the fragile TTL output is protected by
the collector-base junction of Q1. The typical reverse breakdown voltage of a
2N2222 is 60 volts or more, so it provides ample protection for this application.
However, if you plan to raise VDD above 60 volts, you should replace both Q1
and Q2 with transistors that have a higher c-e reverse breakdown voltage.

Power Supply Design

It depends on coil resistance and your chosen coil current, and

the number of coils energized at a time. You will usually build your coils first,
and choose your power transistors next, and these will dictate your power
supply requirements.

Generally speaking, a bigger supply is always better. A larger

supply with extra capacity will maintain the voltage better than a wimpy supply.
And if the voltage droops, the current will slump, causing the magnetization
inside the coil to be reduced.

The power supply is basically constant voltage. This assumption

includes practically all modern sources of electrical power, whether or not it
contains a "voltage regulator" component. It includes the most basic
"transformer and rectifier" supply, because the voltage is determined by the
transformer itself. It includes battery and capacitor-driven supplies, because
they both try to provide whatever current is needed to maintain the same
voltage.

CAPACITOR CHARGE AND DISCHARGE

Discharge
Suppose your capacitor is charged to 9 volts, and at time t = 0 the
switch is connected to a one ohm resistor. The discharge time is regulated by
the resistance.
The initial current (t = 0) is I = V/R = (9 volts)/ (1 ohm) = 9 amps.
For a moment, let us assume the rate of discharge is constant. That is, it will
follow a linear discharge curve over time. At this rate it would discharge in
time:
t = C * V / I = (0.022)*(9 volts)/ (9 amps) = 0.022 sec = 22 milliseconds.

The rate is not actually linear, because

the current drops as the voltage drains
away. This means discharge is at a
progressively slower rate over time. When the capacitor voltage reaches 6 volts,
there will only be 6 amps. When it is 3 volts, the current is 3 amps. An ideal
capacitor will never completely discharge. It will gradually approach zero volts
but never quite reach it.

Exponential Decay
Math for a capacitor discharge is an exponential decay curve: V (t) = V0 e-t / RC
 This curve starts at the initial capacitor voltage (V0), and
diminishes quickly at first. As time elapses, the slope becomes lesser while the
voltage approaches zero. In practical, the capacitor might as well be empty by
the time 99% of the initial charge has escaped.
This graph shows that an exponential decay curve at 22 ms is only
64% discharged. It has one-third of its charge left. For this circuit at 40 ms, the
exponential decay curve still has 16% of the original charge remaining.

(A) Charge
With the switch at A, the capacitor is charging. Current flows from the battery
through the capacitor. The electrons move to one plate, but they do not jump the
insulating gap inside the capacitor. They collect on the surface of the plate.

Meanwhile,
electrons are removed from the
other plate from the abundance that is always there in metals. That gives the
plate a net positive charge. And removing the charge completes the path around
which current flows.
The current is always the same on both terminals of a capacitor.
You cannot move charge into one terminal without removing it from the other.
As the current flows from the battery to the capacitor, it travels
through the LED. This emits light during the charging cycle, and then dims and
finally turns dark when the capacitor is fully charged.
(B) Disconnected
With the switch at B, the capacitor is disconnected. What happens? There is no
current on one terminal of the capacitor. There must be no current on the other
terminal.

With no current
flowing, the capacitor will keep
its 9-volt charge nearly forever. It is stored in the electric field between the two
places. It cannot move due to the insulator -- the charges cannot jump the gap.
In practice, no insulator is perfect and the charge will eventually
leak away. But this may take months in a high-quality capacitor. Additionally, a
significant charge can remain forever, stored in the chemical reaction that
ionizes the plate surfaces of an electrolytic capacitor.
(C) Discharge
With the switch at C, the capacitor is connected to the 1-ohm
resistor. The charges stored in the
capacitor's electric field now have
an escape route. They can
finally flow from one plate to the
other, by travelling through the
resistor.

The rate of discharge current depends on the circuit resistance, and the strength
of the internal electric field (voltage).

Launch Position Effect

The launch position can be defined as the distance between the

leading face of the projectile and the rear face of the coil. The sign convention
for delta is such that when the leading face of the projectile is outside the rear of
the coil, delta is negative.
COILGUN BASICS

The Reluctance Coil gun

A reluctance coil gun is basically a solenoid which can launch iron or steel
projectiles by careful timing of the coil current. The cutaway diagram below
shows the very simplest of coil gun designs.

A coil is wound over a non-conducting flyway tube and the

projectile is positioned at the breech end of the tube. If a short current pulse is
passed through the coil the projectile will accelerate into the coil, and if this
pulse is terminated just as the projectile gets to the middle of the coil it will
leave with a gain in velocity. This is how a reluctance coil gun works. One of
the most important facets of coil gun design is the correct timing and shaping of
the current pulse. There are many refinements which can be implemented to
improve the performance and this site explores several avenues of investigation.
Research on the reluctance coil gun is not as widespread in the literature as its
cousin the induction coil gun; however there are some papers that provide a
basic theoretical framework.

While coil guns do not have any industrial application at present,

there have been suggestions that these systems could be used to launch payloads
into orbit. A more realistic application may be launch boosting where a vehicle
is given an initial speed from a long coil gun accelerator. After leaving the coil
gun the vehicle would fire its rockets to achieve orbit. Launch boosting could
result in significant savings in fuel costs. From a military point of view coil gun
technology may have a place in future combat vehicle where, for example, it
could form part of a so-called active electromagnetic armor system. Hyper-
velocity launching still remains the domain of the rail gun, where there is great
deal of ongoing research.

There are two distinct types of coil gun. The first is the reluctance
coil gun which uses the attractive ferromagnetic properties of the projectile to
generate acceleration. The second type is the induction coil gun in which the
accelerating force is repulsive and comes from the eddy currents induced in the
projectile when the coil is fired.

(1) The use of a non-conducting tube is preferred because with a

conducting tube there is a large electromagnetic braking effect as the
magnetized projectile moves through it. Slotting of the tube can help with
reducing eddy current braking if a conducting tube must be used.

(2) It is termed a reluctance coil gun because the force acts to move the
projectile in the direction of decreasing magnetic reluctance.

The Induction Coil gun

 The induction coil gun is identical to the simple reluctance coil gun
in terms of its general construction. The difference is that the projectile is
repelled out of the coil through the action of eddy currents induced in the
projectile. The projectile must be non-ferromagnetic (e.g. copper or aluminium)
and the starting position needs to be slightly off-centre in the coil otherwise it
would not experience a net force when the coil is fired. The impulse
experienced by the projectile depends on mutual inductance and magnetic
diffusion processes, which must be taken into account to affect a good design.
When a multistage launcher is designed, the individual drive coils can be made
short compared to the projectile length, allowing a smoother acceleration
profile.

The projectile need not be a solid conductor - a projectile

comprising a coil shorted can also be used and offers efficiency advantages. The
projectile can also be tubular where it rides a cavity formed by the drive coils
and an inner, rifled mandrel. The mandrel provides support to the projectile
against the radial component of the driving force, while also imparting spin.

The Reconnection Coil gun

 The plate or disc launcher consists of two coils stationed either side
of the projectile. When a current is pulsed into the coils eddy currents form in
the projectile and the interaction of the coil current and eddy currents propels
the projectile. As the projectile leaves the coils the flux lines from the coils
reconnects. A multi-stage cylindrical induction coil gun can also be referred to
as a reconnection coil gun.

The Thompson Coil gun

This is another style of induction coil gun and it works on the same
principle as the classical induction coil gun. Again, the projectile is made from a
non-ferromagnetic material like copper or aluminium. The diagram below
shows one possible design for a single stage Thompson coil gun.
 When the coil is fired the ferromagnetic core becomes magnetized,
and as the magnetic flux increases in magnitude it causes a circumferential eddy
current in the ring projectile. This induced current is repelled by the coil current
and the projectile shoots off the core. The faster the flux is increased, the greater
is the induced current and the resulting force on the projectile. For best results
the core should be constructed from either laminations, bundled rods, or
powdered material. This is necessary to minimize eddy currents in the core and
therefore permit rapid flux swings.

The Helical Coil Launcher

In this type of launcher there are two coils; the drive coil (stator)
and the launch coil (armature). The armature coil is connected electrically in
series with the stator coil via brush gear that contacts the armature's trailing
arms. The projectile is orientated such that the currents in the stator and
armature travel in opposite directions, producing a repulsive force similar to that
in the tubular induction launcher. The difference in this case is that the duration
of the repulsion is not limited to magnetic diffusion timescales.
 It is possible to construct a helical coil launcher in which the
armature/projectile rides on the outside of an elongated stator. Rails are placed
either side of the projectile and brushes channel current into the stator and
projectile. The brush gear is arranged such that there is a section of energized
stator immediately behind the armature regardless of the position of the
armature on the stator.

The SPEAR coil gun

This coil gun topology employs passive commutation of the drive

coils eliminating the need for active sensing. The armature is charged with an
initial current that persists during the launch (i.e. the L/R time constant of the
current decay is longer than the launch time). At the start of the launch the drive
coils are fired and, as the projectile is drawn into the coils, each successive coil
has its current driven to zero. The SCR switches that commutate current to the
drive coils automatically turn off when the current goes through zero so no suck
back, or braking force, is produced.

Biot-Savart Law:
It is possible to determine the magnetic field generated by a current element
using the Biot-Savart Law.

Eqn 2.1

Where H is the field component at a distance r generated by the current I

flowing in the elemental length l . u is a unit vector directed radically from

l.

Consider an infinitely long wire carrying a current i. The Biot-

Savart Law can be used to derive a general solution for the field at any distance
from the wire.

The general solution is:

Eqn 2.2
The field is circular and concentric with the current.

Another configuration which has an analytical solution is the axial

field of a current loop. An analytical solution can be developed for the axial
field, it is not possible to do this for the field in general. In order to find the field
at some arbitrary point complex integral equations should be solved, this best
done with numerical techniques.

3. Ampere's Law -

This is an alternative method of determining the magnetic field due to a group

of current carrying conductors. The law can be stated as:

Eqn 3.1

Where N is the number of conductors carrying a current i and l is a

line vector. The integration must form a closed line around the current. Looking
at the infinite wire again Ampere's Law can be applied as follows:
 The field is circular and concentric with the current so H can be
integrated around the current at a distance r to give:

Eqn 3.2
The integration is very straightforward and shows how Ampere's
Law can be applied to provide quick solutions in some types of geometry. A
knowledge of the field pattern necessary before this Law can be applied.

4. Field of a Solenoid

When charge flows in a coil, it generates a magnetic field whose direction is

given by the right hand convention - Take your right hand and curl your fingers
in the direction of the current while extending your thumb, the direction of your
thumb now points to the magnetic north end of the coil. The convention for the
direction of flux has the flux emerging from a north pole and terminating on a
south pole. The field and flux lines form closed loops around the coil.
Remember that these lines do not actually exist as such; they simply connect
points of equal value. It is a bit like the contours on a map where the lines
represent points of equal height. The ground height varies continuously between
these contours, in the same way the field and flux from a coil are continuous
(the continuum is not necessarily smooth - a discrete change in permeability
will cause field values to change sharply, a bit like a cliff face in the map
analogy).

Fig 4.1

If the solenoid is long and thin then the field inside the solenoid
can be considered almost uniform.

10. Force on Charged Particle -

Eqn
10.1

This force is determined by the vector cross product between the

charges velocity, v, the magnetic induction, B, and is proportional to the value
of the charge. Consider a charge, q = -1.6x10-19 C, moving at 500m/s in a
magnetic field of induction 0.1T, as shown below.
 Charge in motion experiences a force

The force experienced can be calculated as follows:

The velocity vector is 500 i m/s and the induction is 0.1 k T so:
 Obviously, if there is nothing resisting this force then the particle
will be deflected. It would describe a circle in the x-y plane. There are plenty of
interesting things which can be achieved with free charged particles and
magnetic fields.

11. Force on Current Carrying Conductor

Relating this to the force experienced on a current carrying

conductor. There are a couple of different ways of deriving the relationship.

The conventional current as the rate of flow of charge

Eqn 11.1

Now we can differentiate the force equation above to give

Eqn 11.2

Combining these equations results in -

 Eqn 11.3

The dl vector points in the direction of the conventional current.

This expression can be used to analyze physical arrangements such as the DC
motor. If the conductor is straight then this can be simplified to

Eqn
11.4

The direction of the force is always at right angles to the flux and
the current direction. When using the simplified equation, the direction of the
force is given by the right hand rule.

12. Induced Voltage, Faraday's Law and Lenz's Law

This is just an extension of the analysis of the force on a charged

particle. If we take a conductor with mobile charge and move it at some speed,
V, relative to a magnetic field, the free charges will experience a force which
will push them to one end of the conductor. In a metal bar there will be a
charge separation where some electrons have been forced to one end of the bar.
The diagram below shows the basic idea.
 Voltage induced across a moving conductive bar

The result of any relative motion between a conductor and a

magnetic induction will be an induced voltage generated by charge motion.
However, if the conductor moves parallel to the flux (the Z direction in fig X)
then no voltage will be induced.

Another situation is where an open planar surface is penetrated by

a magnetic flux. If we set up a closed contour, C, then any change in the flux
linking C will induce a voltage around C.
 Flux bounded by contour

Now if we introduce a conductive loop in place of C then the

changing flux will induce a voltage in this conductor driving a current around
the loop. The direction of the current can be found by applying Lenz's Law
which basically states that the effect acts in opposition to the cause. In this case
the induced voltage will drive a current which opposes the change in flux - if
the flux decreases then the current will try to maintain the flux (anticlockwise
current), if the flux is increasing then the current will try and oppose the
increase (clockwise current). Faraday's Law states the relationship between
induced voltage, changing flux and time -

Eqn
12.1

The negative symbol is a consequence of including Lenz's Law.

13. Inductance

Inductance can be described as the ratio of flux linkage to the current producing
the flux. For example, consider a wire loop of cross-sectional area, A, carrying a
current I.
The self inductance can be defined as

Eqn
13.1

If the loop is composed of more than one turn then the expression becomes

Eqn
13.2

Where, N is the number of turns.

It is important to realize that the inductance is only a constant if the

loop has an air core, i.e. is surrounded by air. When a ferromagnetic material is
part of the magnetic circuit, it introduces a non-linear behavior into the system
which results in a variable self inductance.

14. Electromechanical Energy Conversion -

The core principles of electromechanical energy conversion apply

to all electrical machines and the coil gun is no exception. Imagine a simple
linear electric motor consisting of a stator field and an armature immersed in the
field. This is illustrated in figure. Note that in this simplified analysis the
voltage source and armature circuit have no inductance associated with them.
This means that the only induced voltage in the system is due to the motion of
the armature with respect to the magnetic induction.

Primitive linear motor

When a voltage is applied across the ends of the armature a current

will be developed according to its resistance. This current will experience a
force (I x B) causing the armature to accelerate. This induced voltage acts in
opposition to the applied voltage (Lenz's Law). Below figure shows the
equivalent circuit in which electrical power is converted into thermal power, PT,
and mechanical power, PM.

Motor equivalent circuit

 Since the armature is positioned at right angles to the field
induction, the force is given by a simplified version of Eqn 11.4

Eqn
14.1

So the instantaneous mechanical power is the product of the force and velocity,

Eqn
14.2

Where, v is the velocity of the armature. If we apply Kirchhoff's voltage law

around the circuit we get the following expression for the current, I.

Eqn 14.3

Now the induced voltage can be expressed as a function of the armature

velocity

Eqn
14.4

Substituting Eqn 14.4 into 14.3 yields

Eqn
14.5

Substituting Eqn 14.5 into 14.2 gives

Eqn
14.6

Thermal power developed in the armature is given by Eqn 14.7

 Eqn
14.7
And finally we can express the power supplied to the armature as

Eqn
14.8
Notice also that the mechanical power (Eqn 14.2) is equivalent to
the current, I, multiplied by the induced voltage (Eqn 14.4).

We can plot these curves to show how the power supplied to the
armature is distributed over a range of speeds. In order for this analysis to have
some bearing on coil guns, give variables values that are in keeping with the
coil gun pistol accelerator conditions. Starting point is the current density in the
wire, which helps in determining values for the rest of the parameters. The
maximum current density during the coil testing was 90A/mm2 so if we fix the
wire length and diameter as

l = 10 m

D = 1.5x10-3 m

Then the wire resistance and current become -

R = 0.1

I = 160 A

Now that we have values for resistance and current, we can specify the voltage
needed to drive the current -

V = 16 V
These are all the parameters required to plot the steady-state characteristics of
the motor.

Characteristic curves for a frictionless motor model.

Model can be made a bit more realistic by adding a constant friction force, of
say, 2 N, such that the mechanical power loss is proportional to the armature
velocity. This friction value is deliberately large to show its effects more
clearly. The new sets of curves are shown in fig 14.4.
 Characteristic curves with constant friction.

The presence of friction slightly modifies the power curves such

that the maximum armature speed is slightly less the zero friction case. The
most striking difference is the change in the efficiency curve which now peaks
and then rapidly drops off as the armature approaches its no-load speed. This
form of efficiency curve is typical of permanent magnet dc motors.

If we substitute Eqn 14.5 into Eqn 14.1 we get an expression for F

in terms of v.

Eqn
14.9

Plotting this expression we get the following graph -

 Armature force vs. velocity

Clearly the armature starts off with a maximum acceleration force

that begins to decrease as soon as the armature starts moving. Although these
characteristics give a snapshot of the various operational parameters at any
particular speed, it would be useful to see how the motor behaves in time, i.e.,
dynamically.

14. Electromechanical Energy Conversion -

The dynamic response of the motor can be determined by solving

the differential equation which governs its behavior. Fig 14.6 shows the free
body diagram of the armature from which we can determine the net force and
then write the differential equation.
 Armature free body diagram

Fm and Fd are the magnetic and drag forces respectively. Since the voltage is a
constant we can use Eqn 14.1 and the net force, Fa, on the armature is

Eqn
14.10
We can now write an expression for the acceleration of the armature

Eqn
14.11

If we write the acceleration and velocity terms as derivatives of displacement, x,

with respect time, and rearrange the expression we get the differential equation
for the motion of the armature

Eqn
14.12
This is a second order non homogeneous equation with constant coefficients,
and it can be solved by determining the complementary function and the
particular integral. The solution method is straight forward. One point to note is
that this particular solution uses the initial conditions: x = 0, dx/dt = 0.

Eqn
14.13

Eqn
14.14
Assign values to the friction, magnetic induction, and armature
mass. Determining a value for the induction, that will produce a similar
accelerating force in the model as it does in the test coils for a given current
density, requires that we look at the radial component of the flux density
distribution coming out of a magnetized coil gun projectile. This is integrated
over the volume occupied by the coil and a force expression is generated by
multiplying this by the current density, J, and filling factor, F. The expression is
then equated to BIL for our model and Bmodel is obtained by solving equation

14.15, where is the wire diameter.

Eqn
14.15
We can look at the magnetic flux from a magnetized projectile (without a coil
current) as shown in fig 14.7.

Determining volume integral of radial flux density using FEMM

The projectile is magnetized by giving it a B-H curve and an Hc

value in the FEMM material properties dialog. Values were chosen to resemble
strongly magnetized iron. FEMM gives a value of 6.74x10-7 Tm3 for the flux

density volume integral Bcoil, so using F = /4 we arrive at Bmodel = 3.0x10-2 T.

This flux density value may seem very small considering the flux density inside
the projectile is around 1.2T, however, realize that the flux expands into the
much greater volume around the projectile with only a fraction of the flux
resolves to a radial component. The essence of the system is the paired co-linear
forces acting on the stator and armature, so we can fix the copper part and allow
the stator field generator to move instead. Since the stator field generator is
acting as our projectile it will have a mass of 12 g assigned to it.

We can now plot the displacement and velocity as functions of time as shown in
fig 14.8
 Dynamic behavior of the linear motor

We can also combine the velocity and displacement equations to give a velocity
vs. displacement function as shown in fig 14.9.

Velocity vs. displacement characteristics

A relatively long accelerator is needed before the armature begins

to reach its maximum speed. This has implications for the maximum efficiency
of a practical accelerator.
 Close up of velocity vs. displacement curves

There are several significant differences between this model and an

actual coil gun - e.g. in the coil gun the force is a function of the velocity and
displacement coordinates whereas, in the present model, the force is only a
function of the velocity coordinate.

Fig 14.11 is a plot of the cumulative efficiency of the motor as the projectile
accelerates.

Cumulative efficiency as a function of displacement with no friction losses

 Cumulative efficiency as a function of displacement with constant friction
losses

The cumulative efficiency illustrates a fundamental property of this

type of electrical machine model. The maximum possible efficiency of an ideal
accelerator fired by a step voltage is 50%. If friction is present then the
cumulative efficiency exhibits a maxima turning point caused by the machine
doing work against the friction.

Effect of B on velocity-displacement gradient

Small displacement region where increasing induction yields a greater velocity

These curve sets show an interesting property of this model in

which a larger field induction initially yields a higher velocity over a given
displacement, but as the velocity increases the lower induction curves overtake
those representing stronger induction. This makes sense when you consider that
the stronger induction will yield a greater initial acceleration, however, the
correspondingly larger induced voltage causes the acceleration to decrease more
rapidly allowing the lower induction curves to catch up.

The instantaneous efficiency increases as the projectile gains speed

due to the induced voltage reducing the current. This increases the efficiency
because the resistive power loss is dropping while the mechanical power is
increasing; however, since the acceleration is also dropping it takes
progressively more displacement to make use of the improving efficiency. In
short, a linear motor subjected to a step voltage forcing function is going to be
quite an inefficient machine unless it is very long.

This model of a primitive motor is instructive in that it points to the cause of the
typically poor efficiency of coil guns namely a low motion-induced voltage.
The model is oversimplified as it takes no account of the nonlinearities and
inductance elements of a practical system, so to refine the model we need to
incorporate these elements into our electrical circuit model. The next section
will develop a generalized differential equation for a single stage coil gun.

Coil gun Fundamentals

The Coil gun

A coil gun consists of two interacting parts, the coil and the
projectile. Attraction occurs because the coil magnetizes the rod, effectively
creating two separate magnets. The rod is magnetized in the same sense as the
coil so the end of the rod which faces the coil sees an opposing pole. Regardless
of which end of the coil the rod is placed, it will experience an attraction since
the coil will always magnetize the rod in the same sense as its own magnetic
field. It would be a different story if the rod was an independent magnet. If this
were the case the direction of the current and the orientation of the rod could
result in either an attraction or repulsion. Little more detail can be added by
considering the interaction of the flux from the rod and the current in the coil.
The diagram below shows a coil and rod in close proximity. The rod is
magnetized such that it sees the opposite pole when it faces the coil.
 It is almost impossible to calculate a value for the attractive force
by applying the force equation from the previous page, the complexities
involved would likely result in ball park values at best. There would be far too
many simplifications required to get an accurate value. Integrate the force value
obtained from each elemental part of the coil. This would require some
estimation of the flux distribution which is not possible using analytical math.
This can be done using numerical field solution programs such as Quick field or
FEMM. These help to determine the flux distribution and forces in a static
magnetic system.

Solving for a static situation ignores a very important mechanism

of electromagnetic, namely induced voltage and current. As the projectile
accelerates into the coil, the flux linkage increases, generating an induced
voltage in the coil which opposes the supply voltage. This tries to reduce the
coil current and the magnetic field which, in turn, induces a voltage that tries to
maintain the coil current. In many instances, the magneto static solution may
not be a good indicator of the dynamic performance. An exception to this is the
situation in which the induced voltage is small compared to the supply voltage,
such as a slowly moving projectile. In this instance the current will only be
affected slightly. This means that a series of magneto static simulations could be
used to produce a rough estimation of the muzzle velocity. An example of this
comparison can be found in the results section.

2. Finite Element Force Simulation -

In order to get the best out of a coil gun understanding how the
force varies with the position of the projectile in the coil is necessary. The graph
below illustrates the typical force variation on a rounded nose projectile
measuring 20mm long x 10mm diameter. The force curve is almost symmetrical
but the asymmetry of the projectile means that the force drops to zero just
beyond the midpoint.

The force curve is plotted from a series of 21 simulations with the

projectile incremented at evenly spaced intervals, with the coil current density
held constant at a conservative 50Amm-2. This is the general form of the force-
displacement curve, although there will be variations of the exact shape due to
differences between coil and projectile geometries. The force curve generated
from a series of magneto static simulations is of course a simplification since
the induced voltage in the coil will affect the current. The important thing is that
it shows quite clearly that the maximum force occurs approximately halfway
into or out of the coil. It should also be noted that the force gradient is quite
steep as the projectile crosses the midpoint. This suggests that the current pulse
should be extinguished promptly; otherwise the projectile will start to be
decelerated at a rapidly increasing rate - something which we want to avoid.
This type of simulation can be used to give a reasonable estimation of the force
curve if the induced voltage is small compared to the supply voltage.

3. Estimating Muzzle Energy and Velocity from a Force Curve -

There a coil gun system which satisfies the small induced voltage assumption,
to determine the approximate muzzle energy from the force curve is actually
quite straight forward; all that is needed is a simple integration.

A 3rd order polynomial fits this part of the curve very well so
integrating this equation gives us
 The energy units are in mJ because the distances are expressed in
mm. With the mass of the projectile known, the below formula can be used to
determine its velocity,

In this example the current was set to 50Amm-2, this is small

compared to what is needed for a really fast projectile. Current densities of
around 1000Amm-2 will produce respectable velocities.

4. Simple Force Formula -

There is a very neat little formula which describes the force on the projectile of
a solenoid, it goes like this:

Eqn
4.1

Where N is the number of turns, I is the current, and df/dx is the rate of change of
flux linkage with plunger displacement. N and I are straightforward, but the flux
linkage is a quite difficult to determine since it is dependent on the geometry of
the coil and the plunger material. Perhaps the best thing to take away from
examining this formula is that the force can be increased by increasing the
number of turns, increasing the current, or increasing the change in flux linkage.

5. Enhanced Flux Linkage -

 In the force equation above, the flux linkage is one of the
parameters which affect the force on the projectile. Increasing the flux linkage,
for a given coil current, will increase the force on the projectile. The flux
linkage can be enhanced by two means; either by using a projectile with a
higher saturation flux density (such as iron-cobalt) or by adding external iron to
the flux path around the coil.

The increased flux linkage produces an increased inductance which increases

the time constant of the circuit. The cure for this is to run the system at a higher
voltage with an external resistor to achieve similar dynamic and peak current.
This is a technique which can be used to improve the performance of stepper
motors.

6. Projectile Saturation

Saturation is a state in which the specimen has reached maximum

magnetization. Now magnetization can be thought of as the amount of
microscopic atomic dipoles which are aligned with one another. Application of
an external field to dipoles will tend to align themselves with this field. The
stronger the external field becomes, the more dipoles become aligned. When all
the dipoles are aligned the specimen is said to be saturated. This is a simplified
description but it conveys the general idea. Ultimately the forces are due to
charge motion; there is motion of charge in the coil - the coil current, and have
orbital electron motion in the specimen - the dipoles. The force between these
wires will be attractive if the currents are parallel and repulsive if the currents
are anti-parallel. Now imagine two loops of wire sitting side by side as shown in
figure below.

Current carrying loops are mutually attracted

If the wire currents are in the same direction the force is attractive.
Now the force between these loops will depend on their diameter, their
respective current, and their separation, as well as the medium in which they are
placed (e.g. free space). Increasing the current in either loop will increase the
force. The coil is basically a large number of wire loops, each carrying the same
current. The projectile is composed of many tiny current loops - the orbital
electrons. In an unmagnified ferromagnetic material the current loops are
organized into small groups called domains. These domains are orientated in
random directions so that macroscopically, the material exhibits no
magnetization. Fig illustrates the randomly aligned loops. When an external
field is applied, the loops within the domains experience a torque force which
tries to align them with the field. This means that domains which are originally
more aligned with the field tend to grow at the expense of the less well aligned
domains. The stronger the external field becomes, the loops become more fully
aligned.
 An unmagnified material contains randomly ordered magnetic dipoles

Fig shows some alignment of the loops as the coil field begins to influence
them. As the coil field is increased, more and more of the loops align until we
reach a point where, for our purposes, all the loops become aligned i.e. the
material is saturated. Saturation of the projectile is by the right hand loop
reaching a maximum current, but the force depends on the current in both loops.
Since the current can be increased in the left hand loop coil the attractive force
will increase even though the projectile is saturated. Right hand loop current
fixed.
 An external field causes alignment of the dipoles and an attractive force
develops

IMHO saturation of the projectile is of limited consequence, in so far as it does

not place a limit on the attractive force. There is another way to think about this
using the pole concept of magnetics. Basically a projectile can be thought of as
one big dipole which has maximum pole strengths determined by its saturation
magnetization. A magnetic pole experiences a force when placed in a magnetic
field. Now since the projectile is a dipole it has two poles of opposite
magnitude, so if it is placed in a magnetic field each pole will experience a force
depending on the field strength around it and the sign of the pole (+north /
-south). Since the sign of the pole determines the direction of the force we find
that the front of the projectile is attracted towards the centre of the coil and the
end of the projectile is repelled from the coil. The field is stronger towards the
centre of the coil so the front pole experiences an attractive force which is
stronger than the repulsive force generated by the rear pole, resulting in a net
attraction. However, since the coil field can still be strengthened by increasing
its current the attractive force can still be increased. The strengthening of the
coil field increases the difference in the force on the projectile poles and so
increases the net attractive force. As fig 4 shows, any dipole which is placed in
a field gradient will experience a net force, the larger the gradient becomes the
stronger the resulting force. The forces on the poles can be expressed
mathematically as:

Eqn
6.1
Where, P is the pole strength. Since our projectile consists of two opposing
poles in different field strengths, we can write

Eqn
6.2
Now if we assume that the poles are of equal magnitude this reduces to

Eqn
6.3

A dipole experiences a net force in a field gradient.

If the field is increased around a saturated material the flux density

will continue to increase with a dB/dH equal to vacuum. The reason for this is
that the material is full of space. The space still contributes to the flux with a
relative permeability of 1. This is important when using B-H curves for finite
element analyses since the correct dB/dH must be used for large values of field
beyond the materials saturation point.

Optimized Coil Geometry

Thickness of the coil affects the field strength at its centre. The basic coil
parameters are illustrated below.

Firstly let's define some basic geometrical relationships

It can be shown that the field, Ho, at the centre of the solenoid is

Where N is the number of turns, I is the coil current.

F (a,b) is the field factor defined as

We can use these equations in conjunction with the coil resistance equation to
plot Ho as a function of Ro for any combination of L, Ri and wire diameter. Fig
2 shows the field strength for three different wire diameters using a coil with
L=26mm and Ri=7mm.

Field strength vs. outer radius for various wire diameters

The field strength plots are based on a source of 1V. The particular
voltage level is not important; it varies in the relative effect of wire diameter
and outer radius. It is obvious that for any given wire diameter there is an
optimal outer radius which maximizes the field strength. The central field
strength is probably the most important factor governing the muzzle energy of
the projectile.
Fig 3 shows the results of a simple experiment which involved measuring the
muzzle speed from a coil with varying values of outer radius. Coil used was
1mm wire. As each speed measurement was completed a layer of was removed
until the coil was 2 layers thick. Suck back is reduced by using the multi-diode
commutation arrangement. The projectile energy is plotted along with the
calculated central field strength.

Correlation between central field and projectile energy

There is a good degree of correlation between the energy and the

central field. The most notable aspect of these curves is that the peak energy and
peak field occur at the same coil outer radius. The correlation between these
peaks is very striking and reflects the likelihood that central field strength will
play a key role in determining the best coil geometry.

The first thing that comes to mind is the source resistance value.
This is based on the battery source internal resistance, the MOSFET module
resistance, the current sensor resistance and the wiring resistance. Apart from
the current sensor none of these resistances are known to a high degree of
accuracy so the absolute magnitudes of Ho could be off by some amount.
 Another reason could simply be that the field strengths involved in this
experiment is insufficient to induce saturation magnetization in the projectile so
it is still subject to the nonlinear portion of its B-H curve. There's also suck back
acting as an uncontrolled factor which will no doubt vary with the changes in
coil radius. I suspect that running a similar experiment with higher currents, and
hence field strengths, will produce a tighter correlation.

This experiment is by no means definitive, additional experiments need to be

run with a selection of base geometries - length and inner radius combinations -
in order to determine if the outer radius can be confidently specified using the
peak Ho. The Ho analysis is based on the pulse width being at least 6 time
constants - steady state approximation. The Coil B configurations satisfied this
limitation but obviously not all coils will. Some type of dynamic factor is
required to refine the Ho analysis.
Operati breakin
turns / turns / Ohms / Fusing
AWG Dia nom Dia ng lb/1000' g force,
in sq in 1000' Current
Current lb

0.04526
17 0.0468 19.23 369.8 5.063 2.076 98.6 6.200 62.1
0
0.04030
18 0.0418 21.53 463.6 6.384 1.646 82.4 4.917 49.1
0
0.03589
19 0.0373 24.13 582.2 8.051 1.306 69.7 3.899 39.0
0
0.03196
20 0.0334 26.95 726.1 10.15 1.035 58.6 3.092 31.0
0
0.02846
21 0.0298 30.20 912.1 12.80 0.821 49.3 2.452 24.6
0
0.02535
22 0.0266 33.83 1145 16.14 0.6511 41.2 1.945 19.4
0
0.02257
23 0.0238 37.82 1430 20.36 0.5164 34.8 1.542 15.4
0
0.02010
24 0.0213 42.25 1785 25.67 0.4095 29.2 1.223 12.7
0
0.01790
25 0.0190 47.37 2244 32.36 0.3247 24.5 0.9699 10.1
0