Multistage Reluctance Coil Launcher With Residual Energy Recovery and Utilization Mode

Launch efficiency has always been the focus of reluctance coil launchers research. In a traditional launch mode, the residual current in the drive coil creates a reverse force on the projectile. This is undesirable since the reverse force is in the opposite direction of movement, reducing the launch efficiency of the system. To address this problem, a multistage discharge circuit with the residual energy recovery and utilization mode is proposed in this article. As the projectile approaches the center of each stage of the drive coil, the current in the drive coil decays rapidly to zero by using the last stage capacitor to absorb the residual energy. The residual energy from the previous stages is eventually recovered by the last stage capacitor. This capacitor with residual energy is used to power the last stage drive coil of the reluctance coil launcher. This mode effectively suppresses the reverse force on the projectile and realizes the reuse of residual energy. Taking a four-stage reluctance coil launcher as an example, this article introduces the working principle of this mode in detail. The feasibility of the model is verified by finite-element simulation and experiments. Both simulation and experimental results show that this mode performs well in the recovery and reuse of residual energy and can effectively improve the launch efficiency of system.