Study on the influence of armature on the efficiency of reluctance accelerator

The armature is an important part affecting the energy conversion efficiency of a reluctance accelerator. In this paper, six kinds of soft magnetic materials are chosen and four structures are designed for the armature. At first, the circuit and magnetic force are theoretically analyzed. Then the armatures with different materials and structures are used in the simulation, and the performances are compared and analyzed. At last, the experiment verifies the theory analysis and simulation design. It is concluded that the saturation flux density and conductivity of the material are the key factors affecting the armature force, and the optimization of armature structure can effectively restrain the eddy current, reduce negative force and improve efficiency. Compared with cutting slits in solid armatures, laminating the sheets radially can reduce the eddy current more efficiently. Although slitting can prevent the eddy current to a certain extent, meanwhile, it will decrease the magnetic force because of the losing of magnetized volume and the surface area. Hence, choosing the high saturation flux density material and making out the armature with radially_laminated sheets will improve the efficiency of the reluctance accelerator. In this paper, the silicon steel radially_laminated armature is a better choice for the armature design of the reluctance accelerator.