IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 45, NO.

8, AUGUST 2017 2381

Study of Single-Stage Double-Armature Multipole

Field Electromagnetic Launcher
Zhongming Yan, Xiaofei Long, Falong Lu, Yu Wang, and Hanjun Liu

Abstract— Multipole field electromagnetic launcher (MFEL) is

a new type of coilgun that can produce larger radial magnetic
field compared to the axial magnetic field, the axial acceleration
force of coilgun mainly come from radial magnetic field. Because
of the similarity of the magnetic fields between inner and outer
regions of MFEL, this paper proposed a double-armature MFEL.
One armature coaxial with the drive coil placed inside of MFEL;
the other armature coaxial with the drive coil placed outside
of MFEL. A single-stage double-armature MFEL was studied
by simulation and experimental methods. The simulation results
indicated that the muzzle velocity of the double-armature launch
is similar to that of the single-armature launch, and the efficiency
of double-armature MFEL is obviously larger than that of single
armature. To verify the conceptual feasibility, a small-size single-
stage double-armature capacitor-driven MFEL was built and
tested. The inner small armature weighs 63.13 g, the outer big
armature weighs 88.38 g. The experimental results on single-
armature launch show good consistency with the simulation
results, but there is a little gap between the experimental results
on double-armature launch and the simulation results. The causes
of the existing differences are considered to be mainly from
the consistency difference between the six driving coils and the
mutual influence between the inner and outer armatures.
Index Terms— Double armature, electromagnetic launcher,
inner armature, multipole field, outer armature. Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams of single-stage MFEL with different config-
uration. (a) Sextupole driving coils. (b) Traditional single-armature MFEL.
(c) Double-armature MFEL.
I. I NTRODUCTION

M ULTIPOLE field electromagnetic launcher (MFEL) is a

new type of induction launcher [1], it can be considered
as a superposition of several reconnection launchers [2]. Due
stabilization in a traveling-wave MFEL. The above work
demonstrated advantages of MFEL. However, MFEL has a
serious problem over its energy conversion efficiency espe-
to its special configuration, the armature could be accelerated cially at low-speed situation.
with spinning motion [3]. This feature makes MFEL ideal Single-stage sextupole driving coils are shown in Fig. 1(a).
for electromagnetic launching application which requires high The traditional MFEL has only one armature inside of MFEL,
projectile stability [3]–[5]. The current research of MFEL as shown in Fig. 1(b). When the driving coils are charged,
mainly focused on theoretical analysis and experimental magnetic field exists in the inner and outer regions of the
verification. For example, Zhu et al. [1], [3] proposed the driving coils. The sextupole magnetic field has the similar
concepts of normal and twisty MFEL; Luo et al. [6] analyzed configuration in the above two regions. In order to improve
different connection patterns of MFEL and experimentally the efficiency of MFEL, this paper proposed a single-stage
tested a single-stage launcher. Musolino et al. [7] presented double-armature configuration. Two armatures are, respec-
an analytical model for the investigation of the gyroscopic tively, placed inside and outside of driving coils, as shown
in Fig. 1(c). The innovation of this configuration lies in the
Manuscript received January 7, 2017; revised June 1, 2017; accepted
June 10, 2017. Date of publication June 21, 2017; date of current version simultaneous utilization of the inner and outer electromagnetic
August 9, 2017. This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds energy of MFEL. Therefore, the energy conversion efficiency
for the Central Universities under Grant 2682015CX022. (Corresponding of the launcher is increased as well. It has the application
author: Zhongming Yan.)
Z. Yan and Y. Wang are with the School of Electrical Engineering, prospect of launching multiple projectiles.
Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China, and also with the The characteristics of double-armature MFEL were dis-
Key Laboratory of Magnetic Suspension Technology and Maglev Vehicle, cussed by using finite-element simulation software. A single-
Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031,
China (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]). stage double-armature MFEL was built and tested.
X. Long, F. Lu, and H. Liu are with the School of Electrical Engi-
neering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China (e-mail: II. S INGLE -S TAGE D OUBLE -A RMATURE MFEL D ESIGN
[email protected]). A. Launcher Design
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. The MFEL is composed of sextupole driving coils, inner
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPS.2017.2716421 armature, outer armature, platen, and base board, as shown
0093-3813 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
2382 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 45, NO. 8, AUGUST 2017

TABLE I
3-D M ODEL D IMENSIONS

As the switch K is closed, the pulse capacitor C is charged

by HVDC. After the voltage of the capacitor C was charged
to set value, the switch K is opened and switch THY which
is controlled by CON is closed. Then, the pulse capacitor
discharges to the driving coils. The loop circuit equation of
the driving coils is
di d di ai d Mdai
Fig. 2. Structure of sextupole field electromagnetic launcher. (a) 3-D model. Rd i d + L d + Mdai + i ai
(b) Launcher. (c) Launcher and double armature. dt dt dt 
di ao d Mdao 1 t1
+ Mdao + i ao − i d dt = Uc0 (1)
dt dt C 0
where i d and L d are the current and the inductance of
six series driving coils in one stage, Mdai is the mutual
inductance between six series driving coils and inner armature,
i ai is the current of the inner armature,Mdao is the mutual
inductance between six series driving coils and outer armature,
i ao is the current of the outer armature, t1 is the time which
the pulse capacitor takes to discharge, and Uc0 is the initial
charged voltage of the pulse capacitor.
After the voltage of the capacitor declines to zero, the cur-
rent of the driving coils flowthrough the diode D. The loop
Fig. 3. Driving circuit schematic. circuit equation of the driving coils becomes
di d di ai d Mdai
Rd i d + L d + Mdai + i ai
in Fig. 2. The platen is used to fix the driving coils on the dt dt dt
base board. di ao d Mdao
+ Mdao + i ao = 0. (2)
The 3-D model dimensions are listed in Table I. As shown dt dt
in Fig. 1, the cross sections of each sextupole driving coil is In the entire process of launch, the loop circuit equations
approximately square, the cross section of the armature is a of the inner and outer armatures are
regular hexagon. di ai di d d Mdai
Rai i ai + L ai + Mdai + id
dt dt dt
B. Circuit Analysis di ao d Mio
+ Mio + i ao = 0 (3)
The circuit of the single-stage sextupole driving coils is dt dt
di ao di d d Mdao
shown in Fig. 3. It is a capacitor-driven pulsed power circuit. Rao i ao + L ao + Mdao + id
HVDC is a high-voltage power supply, which is used for dt dt dt
di ai d Mio
charging capacitor C; K and THY are two switches; D is + Mio + i ai = 0. (4)
a free-wheeling diode, which can prevent the capacitor from dt dt
inversely charge; L1 to L6 are the self-inductance of the According to the magnetic flux coupling and mutual induc-
driving coils in one stage; Rd is the total resistance of six series tance law, we could obtained
driving coils in one stage; L ai and Rai are the self-inductance i ai L ai = i d Mdai + i ao Mio (5)
and resistance of the inner armature; L ao and Rao are the
i ao L ao = i d Mdao + i ai Mio (6)
self-inductance and resistance of the outer armature. The
capacitance of C is 400 μF, the resistance of R is 0.143 , where Mio is the mutual inductance between the inner
and the inductance of six series driving coils is 100.8 μH. and outer armatures. The current of the inner and outer
YAN et al.: SINGLE-STAGE DOUBLE-ARMATURE MFEL 2383

armatures are
Mdai L ao + Mio Mdao
i ai = i d (7)
L ai L ao − Mio
2

Mdao L ai + Mio Mdai

i ao = id . (8)
L ao L ai − Mio
2

The mechanical-electric coupling equations between the

driving coils and armatures are
d Wmi d Mdai d Mio
Fai = = i d i ai + i ao i ai (9)
d x ai d x ai d x ai
Fig. 4. Initial positon of the double armature.
d Wmo d Mdao d Mio
Fao = = i d i ao + i ai i ao (10)
d x ao d x ao d x ao
where Fai and Fao are the acceleration forces acted on the of the two armatures, respectively, and m ai and m ao are the
inner and outer armatures, respectively, Wmi is the mutual- mass of the two armatures, respectively.
inductance magnetic energy between the inner armature and
III. S IMULATION R ESULTS
six series driving coils and outer armature, Wmo is the mutual-
inductance magnetic energy between the outer armature and Infolytica Magnet is ideal for simulating multi-DOF motion.
six series driving coils and inner armature, x ai is the inner In this section, its 3-D transient calculation module is used to
armature motion displacement, and x ao is the outer armature analyze the launching characteristics of a single-stage double-
motion displacement. armature MFEL.
As shown in (7) and (8), compared to the single-armature The initial position has great effect on the performance of
launch [1], the acceleration force of the double-armature launcher [6], [8]. At the optimal initial position, the driving
launch is affected by additional factors such as the current of current and the inductance gradient should reach the peak
two armatures and the grads of the mutual inductance between value at the same time. This will maximize the thrust force
the inner and outer armatures. If the variation of the induced and obtain the largest muzzle velocity. The capacitance of
current of the double armature is slight and the speed of the the capacitor determines the time that the driving current
double armature is approximately equal, it can be concluded reaches the peak value. The initial charged voltage of the
that the additional factors are negligible. capacitor does not affect this time, so it also basically does
The motion equations of double armatures could be not affect the optimal initial position of the armature. Through
expressed by the simulation of the different initial position of the armature,
the optimal initial position of the armature is obtained. In this
F
a= (11) paper, as shown in Fig. 4, the optimal initial position is set to
m 12 mm which is the distance between the end of the armature
 T
vm = v0 + adt (12) and the upper surface of the base board. In order to observe
0 the inner armature, the outer armature in Fig. 4 is perspective.
 T The driving coil connection pattern also has a great impact
x = x0 + v m dt (13) on launching performance [6]. The same connection pattern
0
is used to connect sextupole driving coils in the simulation.
where a is the acceleration of the armature, F is the acceler- In this connection pattern, the current direction in adjacent
ation force of the armature, m is the armature mass, v m is the coils is the same. The simulation results on single- and
speed of the armature, v 0 is the initial velocity of the armature, double-armature launch with different initial charged voltage
x is the armature motion displacement, and x 0 is the initial of capacitor are shown in Tables II and III.
position of the armature. It can be seen that the muzzle velocity of the double-
Combining and solving the circuit equation, mechanical- armature launch is similar to that of the single-armature
electric coupling equation and motion equations by the launch. The total energy conversion efficiency (η) of the
Runge–Kuta method, the motion parameters of the armature double-armature launch is obviously larger than the η of
are obtained. the single-armature launch. As the initial charged voltage
The system energy conversion efficiency is defined as the of capacitor is 1 kV, the simulation results of the accelera-
ratio of the armatures kinetic energy to the energy initially tion force on single- and double-armature launch are shown
stored in the pulse capacitor. With the speed of the armatures in Figs. 5 and 6. It can be seen that the maximum force of
and the initial voltage of the capacitor, the efficiency is the inner and outer armatures with single-armature launch is,
expressed by respectively, 680 N and 800 N; the maximum force of the
 2  1  2 
2 m ai v im − v i0 + 2 m ao v om − v o0
1 2 2 inner and outer armatures with double-armature launch is,
E k
η= = 1 2
(14) respectively, 650 N and 770 N. The acceleration force curves
E C0 2 CU0 of the two kinds of launch modes are approximately the same.
where v i0 and v o0 are the initial velocity of the inner and outer In Fig. 6, the maximum acceleration force and deceleration
armatures, respectively, v im and v om are the muzzle velocity force appear at the time of 0.4 and 0.76 ms, respectively.
2384 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 45, NO. 8, AUGUST 2017

TABLE II
S IMULATION R ESULTS ON S INGLE A RMATURE L AUNCH

TABLE III
S IMULATION R ESULTS ON D OUBLE -A RMATURE L AUNCH

Fig. 7. Simulation result of the induced current density distribution of the

double-armature launch at the time of 0.4 ms.

Fig. 5. Simulation acceleration force of the single armature launch versus

time.
Fig. 8. Simulation result of the induced current density distribution of the
double-armature launch at the time of 0.76 ms.

TABLE IV
S IMULATION R ESULTS ON I NNER A RMATURE L AUNCH
W HEN THE O UTER A RMATURE I S S TATIONARY

armature and the driving coils pushes the inner armature to

move forward.
Fig. 6. Simulation acceleration force of the double-armature launch versus
time. Because of the armature capture effect, it can be seen that
the eddy current of the inner armature at the time of 0.76 ms
The distribution of the induced current density of the inner in Fig. 8 is counterclockwise. It means that the directions of
armature at two different times is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. the current of the inner armature and the driving coils are
In order to observe the eddy current distribution of the inner approximately equal. So the attraction force acts on the inner
armature, two front driving coils and the outer armature are armature. It causes the armature to be slowed down.
hidden in Figs. 7 and 8. The current of the driving coils is For better analysis of the difference between single- and
counterclockwise. double-armature launch, a kind of launch mode is investigated
It can be seen that the eddy current of the inner armature which one armature is stationary clinging to the MFEL,
at the time of 0.4 ms in Fig. 7 is clockwise. It means that the the other is to be launched at the optimal launch position.
directions of the current of the inner armature and the driving The simulation results with different initial charged voltage of
coils are opposite. So the repulsion force between the inner capacitor are shown in Tables IV and V.
YAN et al.: SINGLE-STAGE DOUBLE-ARMATURE MFEL 2385

TABLE V
S IMULATION R ESULTS ON O UTER A RMATURE L AUNCH
W HEN THE I NNER A RMATURE I S S TATIONARY

Fig. 10. Peak value of the driving current versus initial charged voltage.

TABLE VI
E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS ON S INGLE A RMATURE L AUNCH

Fig. 9. Overall view of the single-stage double-armature launcher set.

TABLE VII
The comparison between Tables II and IV shows that the E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS ON D OUBLE -A RMATURE L AUNCH
muzzle velocity of the inner armature launch, when the outer
armature is stationary clinging to the MFEL, is slightly higher
than that of the single-inner-armature launch. The comparison
between Tables II and V shows that the muzzle velocity of the
outer armature launch, when the inner armature is stationary
clinging to the MFEL, is slightly lower than that of the single-
inner armature launch. It can be seen that in these two cases,
the performance gap of the system is relatively small. The
following experimental research will focus on the single- and The experimental results validate that the double-armature
double-armature launch. launch has higher energy efficiency than the single-armature
launch.The comparison between Tables II and VI indicates
IV. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULT that the experimental results on single-armature launch show
The sextupole driving coils are composed of six identical good consistency with the simulation results, but the com-
driving coils connected in series. The coil parameters are parison between Tables III and VII indicates that there is
shown in Table I. It was wound with 1.5-mm-diameter copper a little gap between the experimental results on double-
wires onto a phenolic glass fiber body and solidified with armature launch and the simulation results. The causes of
epoxy resin E44. The inside cross-sectional surface of the the existent differences are considered to be mainly from the
driving coils was covered with a 0.4-mm-thick Teflon sheet consistency difference between the six driving coils because
for protection and friction reduction. As shown in Fig. 2(b), of the machining process and assembly technology. The other
the driving coils are installed at the center of each side of the reason is considered to be come from the mutual influence
regular hexahedron by M8 stainless steel bolts; the base board between the inner and outer armatures because of the variation
is a 10-mm-thick square epoxy resin board. Two terminals of of the induced current and the difference of the speed between
each driving coil were fixed at the bottom of the base board for two armatures, as shown in (9) and (10).
connection. The armature is an aluminum regular hexagonal As mentioned in [6], when the current direction of the
sleeve, the double-armature parameters are shown in Table I. adjacent driving coils is opposite, it can be achieve greater
The overall view of this single-stage double-armature armature propulsion force and higher energy efficiency. The
launcher set is shown in Fig. 9. The speed of the double simulation and experimental results on double-armature launch
armature is measured by two photoelectric sensors. As the with opposite direction of the current of adjacent driving
current direction of the adjacent driving coils is the same, coils are shown in Table VIII. The results indicate that the
the experimental results on single- and double-armature launch muzzle velocity of the armature increases with the increase
with different initial charged voltage of capacitor are shown of the initial charged voltage of capacitor. The comparison
in Tables VI and VII. between Tables VII and VIII shows that double armature
2386 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 45, NO. 8, AUGUST 2017

TABLE VIII [7] A. Musolino, M. Raugi, R. Rizzo, and E. Tripodi, “Modeling of the
R ESULTS ON D OUBLE -A RMATURE L AUNCH W ITH O PPOSITE D IRECTION gyroscopic stabilization in a traveling-wave multipole field electromag-
OF THE C URRENT OF A DJACENT D RIVING C OILS netic launcher via an analytical approach,” IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.,
vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 1236–1241, May 2015.
[8] M. Rezal, S. J. Kajang Iqbal, and K. W. Hon, “Better performance pulsed
launcher system by adjusting projectile initial position,” in Proc. IEEE
2nd Int. Power Energy Conf. (PECon), Dec. 2008, pp. 1060–1063.

Zhongming Yan was born in Zhejiang, China,

in 1982. He received the Ph.D. degree in theory
of electrical engineering and new technology from
Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China.
He is currently an Associate Professor with
Southwest Jiaotong University. His current research
launch of the opposite connection pattern, whose current interests include the application of superconducting
technology and linear drive technology.
direction of the adjacent driving coils is opposite, has a higher
propulsion force and muzzle velocity. The main reasons of
the difference between the experimental data and the simu-
lation results in Table VIII are also considered to be mainly
from the consistency difference between the six driving coils, Xiaofei Long was born in Hunan, China, in 1991.
the mutual influence between the inner and outer armature, He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineer-
and the difference between the simulation and experimental ing from Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu,
China, in 2014, where he is currently pursuing the
driving current as shown in Fig. 10. M.E. degree in theory of electrical engineering and
new technology.
V. C ONCLUSION He is currently with the School of Electrical Engi-
neering, Southwest Jiaotong University. His current
This paper presented a single-stage double-armature MFEL. research interests include numerical analysis of elec-
The launch characteristics were analyzed by simulation and tromagnetic fields and its applications.
experimental methods. The results of the study indicated
that the double-armature launch can significantly improve
the energy conversion efficiency of MFEL. The analysis
results showed that double-armature launch characteristics Falong Lu was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1989.
He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering
were greatly influenced by the consistency difference between from Nantong University, Nantong, China, in 2013,
the six driving coils and the mutual influence between the where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in
inner and outer armatures. The next work will look forward theory of electrical engineering and new technology.
He is currently with the School of Electrical Engi-
to further study the above problems. neering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu,
China. His current research interests include pulsed
R EFERENCES power technology and its applications.

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