Advanced Diagnostic Techniques for a Naval Electromagnetic Launcher Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Topic No.: N08-066 Topic Title: Advanced Diagnostic Techniques for a Naval Electromagnetic Launcher Proposal No.: N081-066-0583 Firm: PhosphorTech Corporation 351 Thornton Rd Suite 130 Lithia Springs, Georgia 30122 Contact: Christopher Summers Phone: (404) 664-5008 Web Site: www.phosphortech.com Abstract: The nature of electromagnetic launchers requires operation in a harsh environment due to the large electromagnetic field, electrical current, temperature, and mechanical stresses present during a shot. This environment can significantly reduce the lifetime of the rails and therefore limits the military utility of the device. Increasing the lifetime of the rails while maintaining high launch velocities is a critical requirement for electromagnetic launcher development and is the focus of a number of ongoing research efforts. These efforts, however, are hindered by a lack of diagnostic capabilities to support the modeling and simulation needed to design better launchers. Diagnostics are a particular challenge for electromagnetic launchers for a number of reasons, including a lack of access to the interior of the launcher, electromagnetic interference with sensors that use electrical signals, and high temperature and mechanical stress conditions that make survivability of sensors an issue. The electromagnetic launcher modeling and simulation (M&S) community has identified a number of parameters that represent critical diagnostic capability shortfalls for electromagnetic launchers. The highest priority items on that list are temperature, magnetic fields, and stress measured with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution. This proposal describes a novel phosphor-based approach to measuring temperature at the rail-armature interface with a very high frequency response sensor in order to address this critical diagnostic shortfall. Benefits: Both the sensor probe (including the phosphor) as well as the read out instrumentation will be marketable as products for electromagnetic launcher and numerous commercial applications. The probe can be used with a number of different phosphors and can therefore be tailored for different applications. In addition, the instrumentation will be capable of measuring the decay time and/or spectral ratios from any phosphor formulation, which makes it potentially applicable to a number of different industries. Return