Marching to green!
Less than $6.4k to go!!
Posted on 03/01/2015 7:09:14 AM PST by TurboZamboni
The US Navy has been wowing people with electromagnetic railguns, a long-range electrically-powered weapon, in concept and prototype for years now. But the single big obstacle that keeps the railgun off boats remains the same as it ever was: ships can’t generate enough power to fire them. At the Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo, Vice Adm. William Hilarides explained that three problems with the railgun remain: room on ships, integrating the new weapons with the old weapons systems, and power—as in, not enough of it. The railgun doesn’t rely on chemical explosions like more conventional weapons. Instead, the projectile is housed in a electrically conductive metal armature, which connects two parallel, 30-foot rails. A huge 25-megawatt electric pulse is sent down the rails, creating the magnetic fields that shoot the armature and projectile out.
(Excerpt) Read more at motherboard.vice.com ...
25 megawatts for about 1 second. Not sustained demand.
I just want to know if rods from the gods are any closer to deployment.
Someone writing on the limits of power and energy for a railgun, should understand the difference between power and energy.
Full article below, no need to expcerpt this source:
- - - - - - -
The US Navy has been wowing people with electromagnetic railguns, a long-range electrically-powered weapon, in concept and prototype for years now. But the single big obstacle that keeps the railgun off boats remains the same as it ever was: ships can’t generate enough power to fire them.
At the Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo, Vice Adm. William Hilarides explained that three problems with the railgun remain: room on ships, integrating the new weapons with the old weapons systems, and power—as in, not enough of it.
The railgun doesn’t rely on chemical explosions like more conventional weapons. Instead, the projectile is housed in a electrically conductive metal armature, which connects two parallel, 30-foot rails. A huge 25-megawatt electric pulse is sent down the rails, creating the magnetic fields that shoot the armature and projectile out.
For the Navy, the upsides to an electromagnetic railgun are clear: its range of 100 miles is about double that of conventional high-velocity projectiles, and its projectiles, which go seven times the speed of sound, aren’t explosive.
Not only does this make them cheaper and easier to store and transport, but it also eliminates the threat of ordnances lying unexploded long after the war ends.
It takes a significant amount of power to fire something that far and fast, however.
It’s hard to conceptualize 25 megawatts, for me anyway. For some perspective, the Navy’s next generation Zumwalt-class destroyer, the 21st-century stealth battleship with electric engines, is powered by a 78-megawatt array of turbine generators. So, firing a rail gun once would take almost a third of the most advanced ship’s whole capacity. Most ships today don’t have more than 9 megawatts to spare, according to Popular Science.
For now the next generation ships are being designed with two 155mm Advanced Gun Systems, which are also all electric but fire conventional rockets and require 800kW of power—much less than the railgun but still more than most ships today can handle.
Hilarides said that, physics willing, one of those systems could be removed to make room for a railgun.
“We have begun real studies—as opposed to just a bunch of guys sitting around—real engineering studies are being done to make sure it’s possible,” he said. “It’s physics. Without taking something off, you’re not putting on a many ton system, so a gun would be a logical thing to take off and put the railgun in its place.”
The railgun is going to be tested on the USNS Millinocket next year. The first of three Zumwalt-class ships—railgun or no railgun—is slated to be delivered to the Navy next year, and the last in 2018. They’re estimated to cost $22 billion in total.
Old capacitor technology as well. The author doesn’t appear to understand the issue.
It is true that the gun using a tremendous amount of energy, IN A PULSE. Stun guns use a tremendous amount of energy, ALSO IN A PULSE.
There has long been an electronic component called ‘a capacitor’. In short, it is a ‘power on only quick charge short term battery’. No supplied power, no charge is kept.
(that is one of the reasons when you turneed off your computer, you wait so many seconds to turn it back on.)
There are designs for high-power capacitors, even in banks of them, to hold, release, and recharge to operating levels.
(On your digital cameras, capacitors are used to hold the charge for your flash bubl to be used.)
There is enough power generated on both vessels with nuke plants, and turbine plants, for this to work. NOW ... the shielding is the next question.
At nearly 15,000T they would be more accurately described as a Cruiser.
That for ships, while capable, offer nothing more than the current Aegis platform, and in many respects (Weapons Load), far less.
So many automated systems they'll measure them like fighters: How many hours at Sea?
We pay <$2bil for the Burke Destroyers...again, closer to a Cruiser at 10,000T and the Zumwalt will cost >$7bil per copy.
This because there was an edict from Washington to reduce crew sizes.
And it's far less capable than the current platform.
A legend waiting to be sunk.
Lasers though......
Where does all the flame come from when a lightning strike starts a forest fire?
Maybe they could install wool carpeting on the deck and have the crew shuffle around really really fast when they want to fire a round.
Looks like there is some work on stability of the projectile to be done yet.
I read it in terms of "bandwidth." Allocating 1/3 of the ship's total power generation to firing the railgun means that it has to be diverted from powering something else.
Mr. Scott would find the power.
“wave motion gun”
That was a cool clip. Found the movie.
Thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuffO4n4mGA
“Where is all the flame coming from...”
I think there is some sacrificial skids or rails
that holds the projectile as it’s accelerated on
the guns rail or rails. I would assume there would
be a little friction going from 0 to mach 6 in just
a few feet.
Amazon has the movie dubbed in English. It’s nice to watch without having to read the subtitles.
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