Railgun - an electrical accelerator mass. The shell is disposed between two electrodes, which are connected to a DC power source. The shell closes electrodes and acquires the acceleration due to the Lorentz force. Railgun - a flasher. In practice, part of the work is provided by the capacitors which are discharged in the blink of a second.
With railgun projectile can be given a very large acceleration. This acceleration may be much higher than in conventional guns in which a bullet is driven chemical reaction energy of combustion of gunpowder. Railgun is a promising weapon. In some cases, the speed of the projectile measured in thousands of meters per second, which promises tremendous destruction, high range and complexity of protecting against attack. At the moment, no country in the world has the railgun in service. Now there are only test samples. In particular, over the railgun to ship weapons operates the US fleet .
Railgun - two rails, a shell and a current source. Overall simple design attracts fans. Someone Xtamared gathered your worn pattern. The energy shot is 1, 8 kilojoules of energy. (This figure is the energy charge in the capacitor. The losses are enormous, and compare with the energy of the shot cartridges of AK-74 caliber 5, 45 × 39 mm - about 1, 3 kJ - not worth it.) The group of other craftsmen gathered a railgun, and his power is much higher - in capacitors is up to 27 kJ of energy. According to our tests, the shot of this already deadly railgun.
The total mass of the device was about 113 kg. In the photo to the kata presented only actual gun itself. The huge battery of 56 capacitors and thick cables are not shown.
The deployment, installation and first test with an energy of 20 shots, 5 kJ. em>
The second shot. The projectile was stuck, melted and evaporated. Railgun is not affected. Em>
The fifth shot, test ballistic gel. Use appropriate NATO standards 20 percent gel at a temperature of 10 °. This means that its conditions were as close to the density of human flesh. The projectile went deep and showed their lethality. Projectile weight three times higher than that of a pistol bullet caliber 9 mm, thus stopping action of the above. Em>
The ninth and tenth shots. Shooting ten and nine of porcelain dishes. Em>
If we apply the potential to the rails on which the shell is fixed, it just melted. Therefore, it is necessary to disperse into contact with the rails. Handy Ziggy Zee used quite traditional for this solution - spray with carbon dioxide. After pressing the trigger the shell of aluminum accelerates to ≈80 km / h, at a very high speed.
The shell is in contact with the two parallel rails of copper. The rails tightly squeeze the shell, creating enough friction to prevent movement. The friction is so high that blank shot without stress cause the projectile stuck between the rails. Due to the current during the movement of the melted aluminum, providing excellent lubrication. The Lorentz force accelerates the projectile, and it comes out of the gun at high speed.
Often, when you create a lot of attention is paid to the railgun gun and its electrical components. But important and shell. The material selected was aluminum shell. Ziggy Zee notes that there is a misconception: many believe that the need ferromagnets - steel. But iron is poorly suited to shooting from a railgun because of the high melting point and low conductivity. This is not a gun Gauss, ferromagnetism in railgun not identifying.
The shell consists of the head, from which the two legs. Artisans experimentally found that the legs are losing huge amounts of aluminum. It is to be expected. In the process of shooting the legs are pressed against the rails with high strength - calculations indicate the number of more than 4000 N. This ensures excellent contact with the rails.
The rails are attached tightly, so the projectile is forced, like water squeezed from the end of a garden hose. The photo above shows a projectile weighing 22 grams. After the seventh test was created light version weighing 14 grams. Head shell cut to provide better penetration and reduce the likelihood of jamming.
Guns and shells pose no threat without capacitors. In them lies the whole danger and 80% of the weight of the device. To work needed huge gun battery of 56 capacitors. Newbies are $ 850, that is, all would have cost 50 thousand dollars. Craftsmen were able to get 58 pieces (2 replacement in case of failure) for just $ 2600. But it took two years.
Each of the capacitors is designed to work under voltage up to 400 V and has a capacity of 6,000 uF. Pulse Capacitors. To connect the capacitors used aluminum bars thickness of a quarter inch (0.64 cm). From the bars needed to withstand the tremendous current. Need a mechanical strength to be able to endure without damage each bank of capacitors weighing about 22 kg. The width of the bars is also important: the concentrated magnetic field could break the bottleneck conductors. Of course, the copper could go better, but the authors of the project decided that it is too expensive and heavy.
For proper gun Ziggy Zee chose Harold G10. As the requirements are extremely high strength, workability and technological near-zero conductivity. During start-up rails kilonewtons experiencing forces that repel them from each other. Harold went well: it is designed for pressures up to ≈344.7 MPa (50,000 psi, comparable to steel) and has good heat resistance (it burns rather than melts).
In the photo was a very early prototype of the projectile, which was not used. em>
For fasteners used non-magnetic stainless steel three hundred series. The chamber of the pneumatic booster collected from impact-resistant ABS plastic. Harold glued to the bar of wood 4 × 4 inches Glue E6000.
The magnetic field must be behind the projectile. Author of the project estimated that the magnetic field as much as possible when the projectile passes approximately 5 centimeters along the rails. The contact between the projectile and the rails is not desirable, while the projectile does not pass at least an inch (2, 54 cm). Necessary parts were processed belt sanders.
Power cables can be soldered, but Ziggy Zee suggested that they will fly away. (As the video, they really fly off the shot.) Therefore, it was created by a fixture that can be quickly restored.
For firing capacitors need to be charged. In the field, it uses a bank of batteries devyativoltovyh. They are missing out on five shots. Author of the project hopes to adapt to charge the 12-volt car battery through the inverter 120, to increase the voltage transformer and rectifier.
Voltage capacitors when charging increases exponentially. That is approaching the speed of charging the full potential is becoming less and less. Therefore, for the 400-volt charging capacitors Ziggy Zee using 450 volts and sometimes 500, but it is important to time to interrupt the charging process.
Analysis of the data showed low wear shots. Ziggy Zee resource estimates rails 50 shots. Copper rails is almost erased, they are only growing a layer of aluminum. It can be removed.
Ziggy Zee project will improve in the future. The author plans to change the process of pushing in the projectile in the barrel (now it takes too much time), improve the structure of shells, use a car battery to charge the battery and try to switch Capacitors in series to achieve 800 volts on the rails. The latter will need to review the security requirements: all cable insulation is designed for 600 V.
