Development of Shock Wave Magnetic Flux Compression Generators

Explosive pulsed power is currently being developed for use as single shot power supplies in advanced munitions. These explosive pulsed power devices include Magnetic Flux Compression Generators (FCGs), Ferroelectric Generators (FEGs), and Ferromagnetic Generators (FMGs). With the possible exception of the FMG, these generators probably cannot be built to survive the high G-force environments of munitions. Shock Wave Generators (SWGs) are very similar to flux compression generators, with the exception that magnetic field compression occurs within a material such as aluminum powder, with its insulation oxide coating, or other suitable dielectric or semiconductor that becomes conducting under the influence of a strong shock. FCGs function with a void in the inductive volume, usually filled with air or a specific gas such as sulfur hexafluoride. Thus, a conventional FCG usually has a coaxial aluminum tube, armature, which is filled with explosive within the outer housing or stator. This, configuration is intrinsically very difficult or impossible to harden to high G loads, >10,000 Gs. Further, FCGs have additional possible disadvantages, including instabilities (e.g., Rayleigh-Taylor) and several loss mechanisms including clocking flux losses, nonlinear diffusion, and so on that can lead to large losses when even moderate G loads result in small displacements.