High-Efficiency Control Strategy of an Air-Core Pulsed Alternator Pair

As an attractive power supply for high energy level pulsed power applications, such as long range electromagnetic railgun, electromagnetic aircraft launch system, and high-energy laser, multiple pulsed alternators can not only meet the high energy level requirement of the load, but also lower the requirements of the power electronics in the system. Utilizing multiple pulsed alternators work together also makes the control strategy of the system more flexible. In order to improve the efficiency of the whole system, a novel control strategy of an air-core pulsed alternator pair is proposed in this paper. Like a single pulsed alternator, the whole work process of the pulsed alternator pair can also be divided into three subprocesses: the self-excitation process, the discharge process, and the energy reclamation process. In the self-excitation and energy reclamation processes, the armature windings of the pulsed alternator pair are connected in series, and the filed windings are connected in parallel. In order to illustrate the advantages of this control strategy, a comprehensive discussion of different connection topologies of the alternator pair has been made in this paper. A mathematical model based on the equivalent circuit of the air-core pulsed alternator considering the harmonic components was also established in this paper, which could help calculating the system efficiency more accurately. The results and conclusions of the analyses and simulations can offer guidance for the air-core pulsed alternator pair system design and optimization.