A compensated pulsed alternator, also known by the

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordspower supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a ...

. As the name suggests, it is an

alternator An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Gor ...

that is "compensated" (see below) to make it better at delivering pulses of electrical energy than a normal alternator.

Description and operation

The principle is very similar to an alternator, except the rotor is usually kept spinning by its

inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...

(having been "spun up" by an external motor, or the compulsator itself having been used in reverse as an AC motor) and the small matter of the "compensation". The compulsator is used like a

capacitor A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals. The effect of ...

, to gather energy from a low-power source and store it, then generate a high-power output for a short period. The

windings An electromagnetic coil is an electrical conductor such as a wire in the shape of a coil (spiral or helix). Electromagnetic coils are used in electrical engineering, in applications where electric currents interact with magnetic fields, in de ...

of a compulsator are different from those of a normal alternator in being designed for minimal inductance. This allows the current in the windings to change very rapidly, which is why this "compensation" makes it better at delivering pulses. The kinetic energy of a rotating object depends on the mass of the object, the shape of the object, and the square of the speed of rotation. Therefore, compulsators tend to have very light rotors spinning very fast in order to store the most energy in the available mass, and because too much mass in the rotor causes problems with the magnitude of centripetal force required to prevent the rotor from flying apart.

Usage

Compulsators are popular choices for high-end

railgun A railgun or rail gun is a linear motor device, typically designed as a weapon, that uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles. The projectile normally does not contain explosives, instead relying on the projectile's high ...

power supplies. One possibility being considered is to build an electric

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

using a conventional diesel engine for propulsion and to charge a compulsator. The compulsator would be used to power a railgun, and potentially other pulsed energy weapons (particularly

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

systems); also, the compulsator could be used in non-pulsed mode to drive a tank with electric motors for limited periods as a kind of "quiet mode", which could be useful in urban combat.

References

Bibliography * M. D. Werst, B. G. Brinkman, L. Spann.
Fabrication of a Compensated Pulsed Alternator For a Rapid Fire Railgun System
Center for Electromechanics,

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

, Third Symposium on Electromagnetic Launch Technology, Austin, TX, April 20-24, 1986, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 22, no. 6, November 1986, pp 1812-1816

External links

Jason Rollette's Compulsator page

FINAL DESIGN OF AN AIR CORE, COMPULSATOR DRIVEN 60 CALIBER RAILGUN SYSTEM ADVANCED COMPULSATOR DESIGN
*{{deadlink, date=August 2021
A RAPID FIRE, COMPULSATOR-DRIVEN RAILGUN SYSTEM
Power supplies Energy storage