Development of advanced compact railguns for injection of hypervelocity hydrogen pellets into magnetic fusion plasmas

M. W. Tompkins; M. A. Anderson; Kyekyoon Kim; Q. Feng; J. Zhang; T. L. King

Development of advanced compact railguns for injection of hypervelocity hydrogen pellets into magnetic fusion plasmas

M. W. Tompkins, M. A. Anderson, Kyekyoon Kim, Q. Feng, J. Zhang, T. L. King

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

We have designed, fabricated, and tested a number of compact railguns utilizing a variety of gun geometries, augmentation schemes, and state-of-the-art rail and insulator materials in order to develop an injector that can accelerate pellets of hydrogen isotopes to very high velocities (approx.10 km/s) continuously and at high repetition rates for refueling magnetically confined fusion plasmas. These advanced guns are designed to achieve two goals: to minimize or eliminate gunwall erosion and to produce the maximum possible pellet acceleration. These closely related goals assure long gun lifetimes. Using an advanced transaugmented compact gun with an acceleration length of only 45-cm, we have recently achieved hydrogen pellet velocities as high as 2.2 km/s with a time-averaged pellet acceleration of 4.7×10⁶ m/s² at a modest rail current of 10kA. This paper includes a brief overview of our railgun control and diagnostic systems and discusses recent results of our railgun experiments using both plexiglass and cryogenic hydrogen pellets.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings - Symposium on Fusion Engineering
Publisher	IEEE
Number of pages	1
Volume	2
State	Published - 1995
Event	Proceedings of the 1995 16th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering. Part 1 (of 2) - Champaign, IL, USA Duration: Oct 1 1995 → Oct 5 1995

Other

Other	Proceedings of the 1995 16th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering. Part 1 (of 2)
City	Champaign, IL, USA
Period	10/1/95 → 10/5/95

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Nuclear Energy and Engineering

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title = "Development of advanced compact railguns for injection of hypervelocity hydrogen pellets into magnetic fusion plasmas",

abstract = "We have designed, fabricated, and tested a number of compact railguns utilizing a variety of gun geometries, augmentation schemes, and state-of-the-art rail and insulator materials in order to develop an injector that can accelerate pellets of hydrogen isotopes to very high velocities (approx.10 km/s) continuously and at high repetition rates for refueling magnetically confined fusion plasmas. These advanced guns are designed to achieve two goals: to minimize or eliminate gunwall erosion and to produce the maximum possible pellet acceleration. These closely related goals assure long gun lifetimes. Using an advanced transaugmented compact gun with an acceleration length of only 45-cm, we have recently achieved hydrogen pellet velocities as high as 2.2 km/s with a time-averaged pellet acceleration of 4.7×106 m/s2 at a modest rail current of 10kA. This paper includes a brief overview of our railgun control and diagnostic systems and discusses recent results of our railgun experiments using both plexiglass and cryogenic hydrogen pellets.",

author = "Tompkins, {M. W.} and Anderson, {M. A.} and Kyekyoon Kim and Q. Feng and J. Zhang and King, {T. L.}",

year = "1995",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "2",

booktitle = "Proceedings - Symposium on Fusion Engineering",

publisher = "IEEE",

note = "Proceedings of the 1995 16th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering. Part 1 (of 2) ; Conference date: 01-10-1995 Through 05-10-1995",

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AU - Tompkins, M. W.

AU - Anderson, M. A.

AU - Kim, Kyekyoon

AU - Feng, Q.

AU - Zhang, J.

AU - King, T. L.

PY - 1995

Y1 - 1995

N2 - We have designed, fabricated, and tested a number of compact railguns utilizing a variety of gun geometries, augmentation schemes, and state-of-the-art rail and insulator materials in order to develop an injector that can accelerate pellets of hydrogen isotopes to very high velocities (approx.10 km/s) continuously and at high repetition rates for refueling magnetically confined fusion plasmas. These advanced guns are designed to achieve two goals: to minimize or eliminate gunwall erosion and to produce the maximum possible pellet acceleration. These closely related goals assure long gun lifetimes. Using an advanced transaugmented compact gun with an acceleration length of only 45-cm, we have recently achieved hydrogen pellet velocities as high as 2.2 km/s with a time-averaged pellet acceleration of 4.7×106 m/s2 at a modest rail current of 10kA. This paper includes a brief overview of our railgun control and diagnostic systems and discusses recent results of our railgun experiments using both plexiglass and cryogenic hydrogen pellets.

AB - We have designed, fabricated, and tested a number of compact railguns utilizing a variety of gun geometries, augmentation schemes, and state-of-the-art rail and insulator materials in order to develop an injector that can accelerate pellets of hydrogen isotopes to very high velocities (approx.10 km/s) continuously and at high repetition rates for refueling magnetically confined fusion plasmas. These advanced guns are designed to achieve two goals: to minimize or eliminate gunwall erosion and to produce the maximum possible pellet acceleration. These closely related goals assure long gun lifetimes. Using an advanced transaugmented compact gun with an acceleration length of only 45-cm, we have recently achieved hydrogen pellet velocities as high as 2.2 km/s with a time-averaged pellet acceleration of 4.7×106 m/s2 at a modest rail current of 10kA. This paper includes a brief overview of our railgun control and diagnostic systems and discusses recent results of our railgun experiments using both plexiglass and cryogenic hydrogen pellets.

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M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:0029459232

VL - 2

BT - Proceedings - Symposium on Fusion Engineering

PB - IEEE

T2 - Proceedings of the 1995 16th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on Fusion Engineering. Part 1 (of 2)

Y2 - 1 October 1995 through 5 October 1995

ER -

Development of advanced compact railguns for injection of hypervelocity hydrogen pellets into magnetic fusion plasmas

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