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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 41, NO. 5, MAY 2013 1055

Simulation Analysis of the Temperature

Field in an Induction Launcher
Li San-Qun, Guan Xiao-Cun, Lei Bin, and Li Zhi-Yuan, Student Member, IEEE

Abstract— Induction coil guns are a class of launchers that it difficult to accurately describe the process in practice.
utilize electromagnetic energy to promote the armature. During To simplify the process of programming, this paper adopts
launching, the driving coil and the armature will generate a the finite element software ANSYS to analyze the coupling
lot of heat which can make the drive coil and the armature
melt, thereby affecting the normal work of the entire induction between the electromagnetic and temperature fields in the
coil gun. However, it is quite difficult to accurately describe the induction coil gun. The validity of the model is verified by
temperature variation of the induction coil gun because of the experiments.
complexity of its structure. So, the temperature of the launcher
is analyzed using the finite element method in this paper. The
launcher temperature simulation model is built using ANSYS II. BASIC E QUATIONS OF T EMPERATURE F IELD
software, and the temperature distribution of the drive coil The heating power per unit volume qv (density or intensity
and armature is analyzed using the load transfer method. The
simulation results show that, without considering magnetoresis- of heat source) generated by the current in the launcher or
tance effect and skin effect, the temperature distribution of the eddy current is
drive coil is uniform; the temperature rise of the armature is |Je |2
mainly on the outer surface and in the tail. Finally, the launcher qv = . (1)
σ
temperature measurement experimental platform is set up and
the temperatures of key points are measured, thereby verifying Thermal power Q 1 in the volume V generated by the eddy
the simulation results. current is 
Index Terms— Analysis, finite element method, launcher, Q1 = qv dv. (2)
temperature field. V
From Fourier’s law, heat conduction within the unit area
power (heat intensity) q is proportional to the temperature
I. I NTRODUCTION
gradient
q = −λ∇T
T HE INDUCTION coil gun is an electromagnetic launcher
with the advantages of a simple structure, a flexible
design, and the prominent character of no direct electrical where λ is the thermal conductivity (W/m°C) and T is the
(3)

contact between the armature and the drive coil. Therefore, temperature distribution function.
the induction coil gun has a broad range of applications The negative sign shows that the heat flow and the tempera-
[1]–[3]. In the 1990s, the U.S. Sandia National Laboratory and ture gradient are in opposite directions. It should be mentioned
the University of Texas Center of Mechanical and Electrical that thermal conductivity λ of the material will vary with the
Engineering carried out in-depth research on the induction coil temperature.
gun [4], [5]. However, because the launch of the induction coil The thermal power Q 2 through the closed surface S is
gun, especially the multistage induction coil gun, involves a 
complex process, there are many difficulties in their practical Q 2 = −λ∇T ds. (4)
S
applications [6], [7]. First, the launch of the induction coil
gun is a process of mutual coupling of the electromag- As the temperature in the launcher is variable and the
netic field, temperature field, and stress field, which makes change of internal energy in unit volume is (∂/∂t) (ρcT ), the
the performance analysis under any single field inaccurate. change of the internal energy within the volume V is

Second, during launch, the magnetic permeability, conductiv- ∂
ity, specific heat capacity, and other physical parameters of the Q3 = (ρcT ) dv (5)
V ∂t
driving coil and the armature vary with temperature, making
where ρ is the material density (kg/m3) and c is the material
Manuscript received October 4, 2012; revised February 4, 2013; accepted specific heat capacity (J/kg K).
February 19, 2013. Date of current version May 6, 2013. From law of conservation of energy
The authors are with the Shijiazhuang Mechanical Engineering
College, Shijiazhuang 05003, China (e-mail: Lisanqun2012@163.com;
guanxiancun2012@163.com; Lebin2012@163.com; Liziyuan2012@ Q1 = Q2 + Q3. (6)
163.com).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available So   
∂
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. qv dv = −λ∇T d s + (ρcT ) dv. (7)
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPS.2013.2251476 V S V ∂t
0093-3813/$31.00 © 2013 IEEE
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1056
By divergence theorem, (7) can be transformed into
  
∂
qv dv = − ∇ · (λ∇T ) dv + (ρcT ) dv. (8)
V V V ∂t
Taking the thermal conductivity anisotropy of the material into
account, the induction heating temperature differential control
equation has the following form:
     
∂T ∂ ∂T ∂ ∂T ∂ ∂T
ρc − λx − λy − λz −qv = 0.
∂t ∂ x ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂z ∂z
(9)
III. 3-D M ODEL OF THE L AUNCHER
ANSYS is a powerful finite element analysis software that
provides pretreatment, postprocessing, and other functions.
Fig. 1 shows the 3-D model and the meshing of a gun with 10
synchronous induction coils. The green area is all the levels
of the drive coil. Its material is copper, the inner radius is
42.5 mm, the outer radius is 62.5 mm, the length is 50 mm,
the wire-wound inner diameter is 2 mm, the outer diameter
is 4 mm, and the distance between the drive coils is 60 mm.
The red area is the solid armature. Its material is aluminum,
outer radius is 41 mm and the length is 300 mm. The initial
position of the armature is in the center of the first drive coil.
A. Calculation of Thermal Conductivity and Heat Capacity in
the Launcher
The thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity are two
important parameters in the temperature field that directly
relate to the inside heat of the objects. The thermal capacity
of the material is measured by the thermal conductivity, and
the thermal conductivity depends on the type and temperature
of the object. There are a variety of thermal objects in the
induction coil gun, and an accurate determination of their
thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity directly deter-
mines the accuracy of the solution. The coefficient of thermal
conductivity of the object is related to the ratio of the heat
capacity and the temperature of the object, but in a range of
temperatures the thermal conductivities of some materials can
be considered the same. Experimental results show that the
temperature rise of the induction coil gun used in this paper
is not high, so the coefficient of thermal conductivity and the
specific heat capacity of the air gap and the driving coil can be
considered as constants in the working range of the induction
coil guns.
Thermal conductivity is defined as the amount of heat
conduction during unit time through unit area when the tem-
perature gradient is unity, and it is determined by the character
of the material, which varies with the change of temperature,
pressure, humidity, porosity, and homogeneity of such factors.
Usually, the change of temperature is the determining factor.
For most materials, below the melting or vaporization temper-
ature, the variation of the thermal conductivity coefficient can
be approximated as linear. In practical induction coil guns,
the primary materials are copper and aluminum, therefore
calculation of the thermal conductivity mainly focuses on these
two materials.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 41, NO. 5, MAY 2013
Fig. 1. 3-D finite element model of 10-stage induction coil launcher.
B. Determination of the Thermal Conductivity and Heat
Capacity of the Drive Coil
Calculation of the equivalent thermal conductivity of the
driving coil considers the wire, the enamel, the filler, etc.
These components can be seen as series connected. Laterally,
the enamel, the air layer, and the lead wire are connected
in series. Longitudinally, the enamel, the wire, and the filler
are connected in series. Assuming that the heat transfer in
the lateral direction and in the longitudinal direction are
independent of each other, the equivalent thermal conductivity
coefficient can be calculated separately, and then the drive
coil thermal calculation can be decomposed into an orthogonal
anisotropic conduction problem. The structure of the winding
is more complicated and its thermal conductivity changes
with the conductor arrangement, the dipping process, and the
composition of the insulating paint. According to an empirical
formula, the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the winding
portion can be calculated as [8]
λd = 0.165 (1 + 0.0007T )
  
× 1 − 0.32d1 1 − 9.2k1 + 5.2k12 + 0.81d12
   λ 1/ 3  λ 0.25
1 m
× 2.1kw 1.5
− 0.32 (10)
0.162 0.143
where T is the temperature limit of the allowable insulation,
d1 is the diameter of the wire, k1 is the dipping coefficient,
kw is a fill factor, λ1 is the thermal conductivity of the
impregnation, and λm is thermal conductivity of the insulating
paint.
Heat capacity of the drive coil only relates to the wire, so the
heat capacity of the drive coil is the heat capacity of copper,
i.e., 385 J/kg K.
C. Air-Gap Thermal Conductivity and Heat Capacity
The thermal conductivity coefficient of the air gap is
λδ = 2.43 × 102 J/m3 °C. The volume specific heat is taken as
1.284 × 10−6 J/m°C.
D. Armature Thermal Conductivity and Heat Capacity
The armature material is aluminum, and its thermal conduc-
tivity coefficient is 202 W/m K and heat capacity is 920 J/kg K.
According to the working characteristics of the launcher,
the launch time is only a few milliseconds, and so the process
of launching can be considered as adiabatic.
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SAN-QUN et al.: ANALYSIS OF THE TEMPERATURE FIELD IN INDUCTION LAUNCHER
Fig. 2. Drive coil temperature distribution chart without considering
magnetoresistance and skin effect.
E. Boundary Conditions
Assumptions:
1) For a launch test, ignore the impact of launcher heating
on the environment, which means the room temperature
T0 is constant.
2) The geometric and loss distribution are symmetric,
where the axis of the armature can be considered as
the adiabatic boundaries.
3) Because the wires of each drive coil are not arranged
in order, the drive coil will be considered as a whole.
Its thermal conductivity is replaced by an equivalent
thermal conductivity.
According to these assumptions, the drive coil and the
armature are set as in the adiabatic conditions, that is,
∂ T /∂n = 0.
F. Loading
First, the process of dynamic launching of the gun with
10 synchronous induction coils is simulated by ANSOFT and
the following simulation parameters: the voltage at each level,
15 kV; and the capacitance 1200 μF. The discharge time
of each level is determined by experiments as 0, 0.0003,
0.0005, 0.0006, 0.0007, 0.00075, 0.00085, 0.0009, 0.00095,
and 0.001 s.
Simulation starts at moment t = 0 and ends at t = 0.01 s,
with a simulation time step of t = 0.00001 s and the field
stored with the time step t = 0.00005 s. The total mass of
the armature and the load is m = 1 kg. Furthermore, we
ignore the frictional resistance and set other parameters of
mechanical motion to 0, initial position of the armature to 0,
and the upper limit of the position of the armature movement
to 1000 mm.
The current density of each unit at time t can be obtained by
postprocessing of the ANSOFT software, and the heat source
density can be calculated using the formula q1 = ρ1 |J1 |2 ; and
then the heat source density can be passed to ANSYS model
using the overall conservation of the interpolation method,
which will in turn provide the temperature variation of each
unit by temperature field simulation.
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Fig. 3. Drive coil temperature distribution chart considering magnetoresis-
tance and skin effect.
ഒ
s
Fig. 4. Drive coil temperature variation curve.
IV. S IMULATION R ESULTS AND A NALYSIS
A. Drive Coil Temperature Field
Assuming that the drive coil is of a single winding, the rise
in temperature is mainly due to the current of the drive coil,
which is determined by the voltage and the capacitance in
the external circuit. Fig. 2 shows the simulation result of the
temperature distribution of the drive coil without considering
the magnetoresistance and skin effect. From Fig. 2, it can be
seen that the temperature rise of the drive coil is mainly due
to ohmic heating generated by the coil current.
But because of the magnetoresistance effect and skin effect,
the temperature rise in the drive coil is no longer uniform. This
is because the magnetic induction intensity in the inner coil
is large and the skin effect is also considerable. This leads
to the drive coil’s inner temperature being significantly higher
than that of the outer coil, with the temperature decreasing
gradually from the inside to the outside. The results are shown
in Fig. 3.
From Fig. 4, it can be seen that, when the pulse current
increases, the temperature of the drive coil will increase
rapidly before finally stabilizing at a certain temperature. This
means that, as the discharge of the drive coil is completed,
there is no current in the drive coil.
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Fig. 5. Armature temperature distribution chart at 0.002 s.
s
Fig. 6. Maximum temperature rise element in the armature temperature
variation curve.
As can be seen from Fig. 4, the temperature rise of a single
transmitter drive coil can reach 33 °C, which means that,
if a launch is required multiple times in a short time, the
temperature will increase to the melting point of the material.
Therefore, considering the firing rate, a cooling system is
required to cool the driving coil with liquid nitrogen and
to embed the cooling channels in the inner layer of the
driving coil.
B. Armature Temperature Field
Fig. 5 shows the temperature distribution of the armature at
time 0.002 s (10-stage drive coils are discharged).
It can be seen that the temperature of the armature is mainly
concentrated in the tail and the outer surface, and that the head
temperature rise is very small. The variation of the maximum
temperature after the transmitter is shown in Fig. 5 and Fig.
6, which shows a maximum temperature rise of 381.4 °C. At
this time, the temperature of the armature has not reached
the melting point of aluminum and the number of stages can
be continually increased. However, it is clear that the melting
point of the armature material limits the series of the coil gun
and the muzzle velocity.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 41, NO. 5, MAY 2013
Shield wire
Thermojunction Drive coil 2 Drive coil 3
Test point 1 Drive coil 1
Oscilloscope Test point 2
Shield wire Armature Catch
box
Thermojunction
Guide
Oscilloscope wheel
Fig. 7. Framework of temperature measure of launcher.
Fig. 8. Temperature measuring device.
V. T EMPERATURE M EASUREMENT
To validate the simulation result, the temperature measure-
ment and device setup are as shown in Figs. 7 and 8.
According to the simulation results in Section III, it can be
seen that the temperature rise of the driving coil is distributed
uniformly and the thermocouple is buried in the inner surface
of the drive coil, while the temperature rise of the armature
mainly focuses on the surface of the tail, and the thermocouple
is buried on the tail surface of the armature.
As the drive coil is fixed, the temperature of the driving coil
can be measured by directly connecting the thermocouple to an
oscilloscope. The temperature of the armature is also measured
by a thermocouple that is fixed to the armature. Considering
the movement of the armature during launching, three aspects
should be mentioned for the installation of the thermocouple
in the armature. First, the wire between the thermocouple and
the oscilloscope should be long enough to guarantee that the
wire cannot to be broken because of the armature reaching
the intercept box. Second, a wire guide wheel is set in order
to limit the movement of the wire in the direction of the
armature. Third, to guarantee that the wires can withstand the
instantaneous high acceleration during launching, the force
at the two ends of the wire should be zero. In the above
setting, the temperature rise of the armature in motion can
be measured.
The experimental parameters are the same as the simulation
parameters mentioned above. Fig. 9 shows the temperature rise
of the drive coil obtained by measurement and simulation.
Fig. 10 shows the temperature rise of the armature by both
measurement and simulation.
From Figs. 9 and 10, it can be seen that the experimen-
tal results and simulation results are not consistent. This
is because only the average temperature can be measured,
while the simulation results give the transient temperature.
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SAN-QUN et al.: ANALYSIS OF THE TEMPERATURE FIELD IN INDUCTION LAUNCHER
T/ഒ
t/s
Fig. 9. Comparison curve between measured and simulation value of drive
coil temperature rise.
t/s
Fig. 10. Comparison curve between measured and simulation value of
armature temperature rise.
If the average simulation results are adopted, the results by
measurement and simulation will be consistent with each other.
Below, the reasons of the system errors during measurement
are analyzed.
The thermal response time depends largely on the structure
of the sensor and the measurement conditions. For gaseous
media, it needs at least 30 min to reach thermal equilibrium.
For a liquid medium, it needs at least 5 min to reach thermal
equilibrium. For an environment with variable temperature,
especially for the transient process, the whole process is within
1 s, so the response time of the sensor should be less than a few
milliseconds. Usually, the response time of the temperature
sensor is larger than this, which leads to a delay of the
measurement of the temperature and a measurement error.
Furthermore, the strong electromagnetic fields generated by
the current in the coil also lead to a temperature measurement
error. As long as the conductors in the magnetic field do not
constitute a closed loop, no current will be generated within
the conductor. The effect of the magnetic field will depend on
the conducting wire carrying the current. So the wires should
be entwined together if the operation is improper. Therefore,
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the wire should be stuck with an insulating paste along the
armature axis.
VI. C ONCLUSION
Based on thermodynamic theory, a basic equation for the
multistage launcher temperature was set up using the load
transfer method. The launcher transient temperature’s field
simulation problem was solved and the temperature distri-
butions of the drive coil and the armature were analyzed.
Simulation results showed that, when considering the mag-
netoresistance effect and the skin effect, the temperature
distribution of the drive coil was uniform and the armature
temperature rise was mainly on the outer surface and tail.
Finally, a launcher temperature measurement experimental
platform was set up and the stimulation results were verified
by temperature measurement at the key points.
R EFERENCES
[1] J. K. Ronald, R. S. Issaac, and W. W. Richard, “Design and evaluation
of coils for a 50 mm diameter induction coilgun launcher,” IEEE Trans.
Magn., vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 478–483, Jan. 1995.
[2] K. Masugata, “Hyper velocity acceleration by a pulsed coilgun
using traveling magnetic field,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 33, no. 6,
pp. 4434–4438, Nov. 1997.
[3] M. S. Aubuchon, T. R. Lockner, R. J. Kaye, and B. N. Turman, “Study
of coilgun performance and comments on powered armatures,” IEEE
Trans. Magn., vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 141–144, May 2004.
[4] M. M. Widner, “WARP-10: A numerical simulation model for the
cylindrical reconnection launcher,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 27, no. 1,
pp. 634–638, Jan. 1991.
[5] B. Marder, “SLINGSHOT—A coilgun design code,” Sandia National
Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, Tech. Rep. SAND2001-1780,
Sep. 2001.
[6] R. Hagnmaram and A. Shoulaie, “Transient modeling of multiparallel
tubular linear induction motors,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 42, no. 6,
pp. 1687–1693, Jan. 2006.
[7] J. K. Ronald, C. C. Eugene, and M. Cowan, “Design and performance of
Sandia’s contactless coilgun for 50 mm projectiles,” IEEE Trans. Magn.,
vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 680–685, Jan. 1993.
[8] F. Herlach and M. Von Ortenberg, “Pulsed magnets for strong and
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Jul. 1996.
Li San-Qun was born in Shanxi Province, China, on
January 20, 1974. He received the Ph.D. degree in
microminiature weapon technology from the Beijing
Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, in 2010.
He is currently a Vice Professor with Shi-
jiazhuang Mechanical Engineering College, Shi-
jiazhuang, China. His current research interests
include electromagnetic launch technology and elec-
tromagnetic armor technology.
Guan Xiao-Cun was born in Hebei Province, China,
on February 28, 1984. He received the B.S. degree in
machinery design and manufacture from the Hebei
Institute of Agriculture, Baoding, China, in 2006,
and the M.S. degree in machinery electron engi-
neering from Shijiazhuang Mechanical Engineering
College, Shijiazhuang, China, in 2009, where he is
currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree.
He specializes in the research of coilguns, includ-
ing the analysis of electromagneticism, temperature
and stress, and the design of prototypes. He has
publications in the IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference and IEEE
T RANSACTIONS ON P LASMA S CIENCE.
Mr. Guan is a Student Member of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences
Society.
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1060
Lei Bin was born in Hunan Province, China, on
September 05, 1962. He received the M.S. degree
in machinery design and manufacture from Shi-
jiazhuang Mechanical Engineering, Shijiazhuang,
China, and the Ph.D. degree from Feilaibeige Mining
University, Frevbery, German, in 1990 and 1998,
respectively.
He is currently a Professor with the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Shijiazhuang Mechanical
Engineering. He is the Dean of the Department
of Mechanical Engineering. His current research
interests include measuring and testing techniques, control and simulation
machines, and electromagnetic launch technology and electromagnetic armor
technology.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 41, NO. 5, MAY 2013
Li Zhi-Yuan (S’10) was born in Shanxi Province,
China, on August 11, 1968. He received the M.S.
and Ph.D. degrees in weapons launch theory from
Shijiazhuang Mechanical Engineering College, Shi-
jiazhuang, China, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
He is currently a Vice Professor with Shi-
jiazhuang Mechanical Engineering College. His
current research interests include electromagnetic
launch technology and electromagnetic armor
technology.
Dr. Li was a Student Member of the IEEE Nuclear
and Plasma Sciences Society in 2010.