Development of a tubular induction motor for actuating applications / Suraya Abdul Azam

This project describes the design of a tubular motor (known as railgun) based on the 3 phase induction motor concept. The tubular motor is a series of coils "actived" sequentially to pull the bullet along the railgun. A three phase supply is employed to produce alternating currents. Each alternating current rises and falls rythmically in time and is 120° apart from the other two alternating currents. As a result, a transversing magnetic field is obtained. The field can be described as analogous to the rotating magnetic field in a 3-phase induction machine, but here it is in a linear direction. Bullets are entered at one end of the railgun and exit on the other. Tests were conducted to determine the optimum size of the bullet at each current magnitude and the performance of the railgun.