PULSE POWER APPLICATIONS
Purpose and Application: Superconducting energy storage devices, either a simple coil or homopolar generator with superconducting field coils, can be designed to deliver electric power at high enough rates to power devices such as aircraft catapult launchers and electromagnetic guns. Considered by the Navy for aircraft carriers and by the Army for balistic missile defense.
Example: A high speed homopolar generator that uses a superconducting field coil was built by General Atomics and is shown here on its test stand at the Center for Electromagnetics in Austin, Texas in 1985. The system was used to evaluate the feasibility of using homopolar generators to store and deliver pulsed electric power for electromagnetic launchers under an Air Force program.
Click here to return to main page.