{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/69331"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/69331","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Fundamental Study and Development of a Hydrogen Pellet Accelerator Using a Fuseless Two-Stage Plasma-Arc-Driven Electromagnetic Railgun","abstract":"A detailed experimental study has, for the first time, successfully demonstrated the acceleration of frozen hydrogen pellets by means of a fuseless two-stage electromagnetic railgun system. This system consists of a pneumatic hydrogen pellet injector, which freezes and pneumatically pre-accelerates (with high-pressure helium as the propellant gas) cylindrical 1.6-mm-dia. by 1.75-mm-long hydrogen pellets, and a 60-cm-long 1.6-mm-dia. circular-bore electromagnetic railgun. The pellet is introduced into the railgun by means of a coupling piece, and a plasma-arc armature is created from the propellant gas by means of a very unique, fuseless, arc-initiation scheme. A slightly different, yet equally effective fuseless arc-initiation scheme was employed in a prototype room-temperature two-stage railgun system. Railgun-accelerated hydrogen pellet velocities of 1.6 km/s were achieved from pneumatically-accelerated injection velocities of 800 m/s. Streak-camera and current-probe data showed that the plasma-arc armature moves at a velocity proportional to the railgun current, I, and not to the often-quoted I('2). Insight to this I-dependence has been gained through the use of streak photography and current probes for varying bore geometries and gas pressures.","abstract_html":"A detailed experimental study has, for the first time, successfully demonstrated the acceleration of frozen hydrogen pellets by means of a fuseless two-stage electromagnetic railgun system. This system consists of a pneumatic hydrogen pellet injector, which freezes and pneumatically pre-accelerates (with high-pressure helium as the propellant gas) cylindrical 1.6-mm-dia. by 1.75-mm-long hydrogen pellets, and a 60-cm-long 1.6-mm-dia. circular-bore electromagnetic railgun. The pellet is introduced into the railgun by means of a coupling piece, and a plasma-arc armature is created from the propellant gas by means of a very unique, fuseless, arc-initiation scheme. A slightly different, yet equally effective fuseless arc-initiation scheme was employed in a prototype room-temperature two-stage railgun system. Railgun-accelerated hydrogen pellet velocities of 1.6 km/s were achieved from pneumatically-accelerated injection velocities of 800 m/s. Streak-camera and current-probe data showed that the plasma-arc armature moves at a velocity proportional to the railgun current, I, and not to the often-quoted I('2). Insight to this I-dependence has been gained through the use of streak photography and current probes for varying bore geometries and gas pressures.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Honig, John"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Electrical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-12-15T19:05:07Z","date_published":"2014-12-15T19:05:07Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:00Z","subjects":["Engineering, Electronics and Electrical"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["(UMI)AAI8610941"],"render_values":[{"text":"(UMI)AAI8610941","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/69331","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Honig, John"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2014-12-15T19:05:07Z","10000-01-01","1986"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Electrical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Engineering, Electronics and Electrical"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/69331","(UMI)AAI8610941"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["A detailed experimental study has, for the first time, successfully demonstrated the acceleration of frozen hydrogen pellets by means of a fuseless two-stage electromagnetic railgun system. This system consists of a pneumatic hydrogen pellet injector, which freezes and pneumatically pre-accelerates (with high-pressure helium as the propellant gas) cylindrical 1.6-mm-dia. by 1.75-mm-long hydrogen pellets, and a 60-cm-long 1.6-mm-dia. circular-bore electromagnetic railgun. The pellet is introduced into the railgun by means of a coupling piece, and a plasma-arc armature is created from the propellant gas by means of a very unique, fuseless, arc-initiation scheme. A slightly different, yet equally effective fuseless arc-initiation scheme was employed in a prototype room-temperature two-stage railgun system. Railgun-accelerated hydrogen pellet velocities of 1.6 km/s were achieved from pneumatically-accelerated injection velocities of 800 m/s. Streak-camera and current-probe data showed that the plasma-arc armature moves at a velocity proportional to the railgun current, I, and not to the often-quoted I('2). Insight to this I-dependence has been gained through the use of streak photography and current probes for varying bore geometries and gas pressures.","Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-15T19:05:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 8610941.pdf: 3777882 bytes, checksum: 39604c0a847199276ee031a8e271c1ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 1986","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 69497 Lift date: Forever Reason: Restricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETDs","Restricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETDs","U of I Only","119 p.","Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1986."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Fundamental Study and Development of a Hydrogen Pellet Accelerator Using a Fuseless Two-Stage Plasma-Arc-Driven Electromagnetic Railgun"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Honig, John"],"dc:date":["2014-12-15T19:05:07Z","10000-01-01","1986"],"dc:description":["A detailed experimental study has, for the first time, successfully demonstrated the acceleration of frozen hydrogen pellets by means of a fuseless two-stage electromagnetic railgun system. This system consists of a pneumatic hydrogen pellet injector, which freezes and pneumatically pre-accelerates (with high-pressure helium as the propellant gas) cylindrical 1.6-mm-dia. by 1.75-mm-long hydrogen pellets, and a 60-cm-long 1.6-mm-dia. circular-bore electromagnetic railgun. The pellet is introduced into the railgun by means of a coupling piece, and a plasma-arc armature is created from the propellant gas by means of a very unique, fuseless, arc-initiation scheme. A slightly different, yet equally effective fuseless arc-initiation scheme was employed in a prototype room-temperature two-stage railgun system. Railgun-accelerated hydrogen pellet velocities of 1.6 km/s were achieved from pneumatically-accelerated injection velocities of 800 m/s. Streak-camera and current-probe data showed that the plasma-arc armature moves at a velocity proportional to the railgun current, I, and not to the often-quoted I('2). Insight to this I-dependence has been gained through the use of streak photography and current probes for varying bore geometries and gas pressures.","Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-15T19:05:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 8610941.pdf: 3777882 bytes, checksum: 39604c0a847199276ee031a8e271c1ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 1986","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 69497 Lift date: Forever Reason: Restricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETDs","Restricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETDs","U of I Only","119 p.","Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1986."],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/69331","(UMI)AAI8610941"],"dc:subject":["Engineering, Electronics and Electrical"],"dc:title":["Fundamental Study and Development of a Hydrogen Pellet Accelerator Using a Fuseless Two-Stage Plasma-Arc-Driven Electromagnetic Railgun"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Electrical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:00Z"}