Adaptable quench coil gun
AssigneeThe Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsLance D. Cooley, Christian M. Hubicki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Example coil guns and methods of using coil guns are described herein. An example coil gun includes a first pancake module; a second pancake module, where the first pancake module and the second pancake module are each formed of a winding with an inner superconducting material layer and an outer ordinary conductor layer, where the first pancake module and the second pancake module are physically and/or inductively coupled to propagate a quench of a superconducting state of the first pancake module to the second pancake module.
Claims19
A coil gun, comprising:
- a barrel, a first pancake module and a second pancake module the first and second pancake modules being positioned around the barrel;
- and
- a voltage source configured to energize the first and second pancake modules;
- wherein the first pancake module and the second pancake module are each formed of a winding with an inner superconducting material layer and an outer ordinary conductor layer, wherein the first pancake module and the second pancake module are physically and/or inductively coupled to propagate a quench of a superconducting state of the first pancake module to the second pancake module;
- and wherein the superconducting state of the first pancake module is configured to be quenched by applying a physical shock to the first pancake module.
A method of operating a coil gun, the method comprising:
- loading a projectile into a barrel of the coil gun, wherein the coil gun further comprises a first pancake module and a second pancake module each positioned around the barrel, and the first pancake module and the second pancake module are each formed of a winding with an inner superconducting material layer and an outer ordinary conductor layer,
- creating a first superconducting state in a first pancake module of the coil gun;
- creating a second superconducting state in a second pancake module of the coil gun,
- applying a current to the first pancake module and the second pancake module using a voltage source;
- quenching the first superconducting state of the first pancake module by applying a physical shock to the first pancake module, wherein the first pancake module and the second pancake module are physically and/or inductively coupled to propagate a quench of a superconducting state of the first pancake module to the second pancake module;
- and
- releasing the projectile.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.