Experimental Data on High Power Explosive Opening and Closing Switches at CEM-UT

The need for high power switching i n pulse power research has lead to the development of fast acting opening and closing switches with current capacity of more than 1 MA. Presented is the performance data of two switches developed for railgun experiments at the Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin (CEM-UT). The first is a compact closing switch, explosively actuated, used as an isolation device for staging parallel inductors charged by homopolar generators (HPGs) and as a crowbar to shunt excess energy from railguns during projectile exit .The second i s an explosive opening switch which provides a low resistance path during inductor charging before quickly opening to transfer energy to the railgun.Center for Electromechanic