railgun V2 project

[rp181]

The revision 2 Railgun will incorporate several major changes, and several minor changes.
Major updates:
-The capacitor bank will be expanded by 22 capacitors, giving a increase from 5616 joules to 12480 joules, at 400 volts. Peak energy, with capacitors set aside for coilgun and surge voltage, will be 16980 joules.
-The bus bars are reconfigured to use minimal material, and have minimal resistance. They will be 1/2" thick aluminium (due to cost restrictions). Total bus bar length will 8 feet, versus the 11 feet for the current much smaller bank.
-8x 2"x2"x1" NdFeB magnets (grade N50) will be used for a permanent magnet augmented railgun. The field strength of these is large enough to be beneficial even with 100,000A current.
Minor changes:
-The injection valve was retrofitted with a solenoid, which will allow for remote triggering
-The rails will be silver plated, with the cool-amp silver plating powder.
-In an effort to minimise resistance, the cables have been eliminated.
-a analog pressure sensor was connected, and a comparator circuit (point to point solder) is set to trigger at 50 PSI.
-The charging will be a HF transformer with a flyback core, for better voltage level control.
Some things I plan on trying out:
- 3" square pieces of bullet proof glass (thanks Jimmy) will be shot, hopefully getting fractal patterns. This will be useful for comparing power, and seeing the orientation of the projectile when impacted.
-self-augmented rails
-Switching power into the rails with a triggered sparkgap, built into the back of the railgun.
Pictures can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rp181
There are also pictures of my triggered burst disc setup, someone wanted to see those.

[inonickname]

Several questions.

-The rails will be silver plated, with the cool-amp silver plating powder.

How long do you think the rails will last with that? Could it just be re-coated normally rather than replacement? I'm always into something to protect my HV electrodes.

Lastly..what kind of efficiency figures are you speculating at?

Sounds excellent.

[rp181]

I have no idea, I will be using this:
http://www.cool-amp.com/cool_amp.html

I am hoping for atleast 1% to start, and working towards 5%, then 10%, etc..

[jonot05]

What are the specs of the capacitors and where did you get them?