HIGH PERFORMANCE ACTIVELY COOLED RAILS DEVELOPMENT FOR RAPID FIRE ELECTROMAGNETIC LAUNCHERS

THE EFFICIENT INTERSHOT COOLING OF THE CONDUCTIVE RAILS IN RAPID-FIRE RAILGUNS IS ESSENTIAL TO THEIR PERFORMANCE AND SURVIVABILITY AS ELEMENTS IN A BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT A COMBINATION OF ADVANCED ACTIVE COOLING AND UNIQUE MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY WILL BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE THE EXTREMELY HIGH HEAT REMOVAL RATES FOR SEVERAL RAILGUNS CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED FOR SDI. SPARTA, INC. PROPOSES TO UTILIZE ITS SPECIAL LOW-TEMPERATURE SOLID-STATE BONDING METHOD AND ADVANCED MATERIALS TO DEVELOP HIGHSTRENGTH, MONOLITHIC COOLED-RAIL STRUCTURES WITH MULTIPLE SMALL COOLANT CHANNELS. THE RAIL COOLING CONFIGURATIONS WILL BE DESIGNED FOR OPERATION IN THE HIGHLY TURBULENT TO SUBCOOLED NUCLEATE BOILING REGIME IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE REQUIRED HEAT REMOVL RATES. THE OBJECTIVES OF PHASE 1 INCLUDE DEFINING COOLING REQUIREMENTS FOR A SPECIFIC SDI RAILGUN SYSTEM, EVALUATING AND SELECTING A COOLING CONCEPT, DESIGNING THE THERMAL-HYDRAULIC CONFIGURATION TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS; DEVELOPING THE PROCEDURES AND PARAMETERS AND ESTABLISHING THE FEASIBILITY OF FABRICATING THE SELECTED CONFIGURATIONS; PRODUCING COOLED-RAIL SEGMENTS AND DEFINING A SUBSCALE, ELECTRICALLY PULSED, COOLING TEST PROGRAM FOR PHASE 2.