Great Power Technology.

Chapter 277 What the hell is an electromagnetic gun

On June 6, the waters near Yongxia Island.

Ye Zhou came to this island again, but this time he didn't come to see the H-20, but to watch the first fire test of the Type 055D-3 destroyer.

Just as he expected, the subtext that Chen Hao told him before, "to refit the ship's comprehensive electrical system and add an energy storage module" on the 055D, is to officially realize the electromagnetic gun on the ship, and now, it has been a month and a half. In the past, the 055D, which has no hull number, has clearly achieved its goal.

At this moment, Ye Zhou stood quietly on the deck of aircraft carrier No. 002, waiting for 055D not far away to make final preparations before launch.

Standing beside him is the chief engineer of this transformation—or, in other words, the chief engineer of the entire Huaxia ship's all-electric system, Ma Weiming.

Officially under his leadership, the aircraft carrier No. 003, which is about to be launched, solved the problem of electromagnetic ejection. Under the circumstances that everyone thought was impossible, it successfully used conventional power generators to support the electromagnetic ejection system with high power consumption.

In addition, he is also the chief designer of the comprehensive electrical system of the entire Huaxia Navy, and every Chinese ship that breaks the waves on the sea is condensed with his hard work.

In front of such a person, even Ye Zhou didn't have the confidence to take credit for it.

The seagull landed on the ship's side of No. 002, and then was disturbed by the passing ground crew, which added a bit of vitality to this giant steel island.

Ye Zhou's eyes followed the seagulls away, then turned his eyes back, looked at Ma Weiming and said:
"Mr. Ma, have all the key technical problems of our electromagnetic guns been solved this time? Why do I feel as if we started it quietly? I haven't heard of any breakthroughs before."

Ma Weiming, who was on the side, heard Ye Zhou's words and asked with a gentle smile:
"I guess what you want to ask is about capacitance and ion ablation?"

Ye Zhou nodded.

In fact, unlike what some people think, the so-called electromagnetic gun is not an energy weapon, but a kinetic energy weapon. Its principle is to accelerate the shell through the electromagnetic force of the guide rail to accelerate the shell far beyond the initial velocity of the traditional artillery, so as to achieve The effect of kinetic energy killing.

According to the latest public results, the latest electromagnetic railgun can accelerate the projectile to a maximum of 4300 meters per second, which is close to 5 times the muzzle velocity of the traditional naval gun. At this speed, even if the projectile is not loaded with explosives, it can Deals a devastating blow to enemy units.

However, to achieve such an effect, there are still two extremely difficult hurdles to overcome.

The first is the problem of ultra-high-power capacitors. Simply put, the greater the potential difference, the greater the current released in a short period of time, and the greater the current, the greater the power of the electromagnetic gun.

This has nothing to do with battery energy storage. For example, the battery power of a mobile phone can fully support more than 50 launches of electromagnetic shells with the power of the AK-47 standard, but how to release these power at one time is the problem. The essential.

In addition to the problem of capacitors, electromagnetic guns also face a more serious and destructive problem, which is the skin effect.

In one sentence, the skin effect is the process of electromagnetically generating heat, which is enough to cause serious ablation of the shell and the electromagnetic rail, and even directly plasma the tail of the shell when it is fired.

Such electromagnetic ablation is unavoidable during the launch of the electromagnetic gun. To overcome this difficulty, a breakthrough must be made in materials science, and materials that are extremely resistant to high temperature ablation and have sufficient strength are used to manufacture guide rails. and shells.

But where did such shells come from?According to Ye Zhou's understanding, even in the world, there is no material that can withstand such high-temperature ablation. Otherwise, Ugly Country would not suspend the electromagnetic gun project that has a bright future.

Thinking of this, Ye Zhou looked at Ma Weiming, waiting expectantly for his answer.

After a pause, Ma Weiming said:
"Actually, the solution to these two problems is related to you. That's why I specially wanted to apply to my superiors today and invited you to witness this achievement."

"It's about me?"

Ye Zhou was taken aback for a moment, his expression slightly confused.

He did provide a series of scientific and technological achievements including batteries and high-heat-resistant materials, but these scientific and technological achievements have relatively limited effects, and logically speaking, they should not have much to do with electromagnetic guns.

Seeing Ye Zhou's expression, Ma Weiming smiled, and then continued to explain:

"It seems that you don't know how big waves you have caused by the things you took out, but it's normal, I heard that you always finish one project and start the next one without stopping, and you don't have time to look back-- so It’s very good, you explore the road in front, we pave the road in the back, so that this road can go wider and wider.”

"Let's talk about the electromagnetic gun. In fact, you also know that the two biggest difficulties of the current electromagnetic railgun are capacitance and ablation. Let's talk about capacitance first."

"Actually, we have already solved the capacitor problem in 2016-my electromagnetic ejection system was formed at that time. To be honest, the electromagnetic gun is actually just a by-product of electromagnetic ejection."

"However, the problem of the capacitor has been solved. To get the electromagnetic gun on board, we still face another problem, that is, charging the capacitor."

"You also know that on an aircraft carrier, it is not difficult for us to charge the electromagnetic orbit, because the aircraft carrier itself is large in size and the power of the generator is also large, which can afford high power consumption units like the electromagnetic orbit. "

"But the destroyer can't, let alone whether the size is enough, at least when we first designed it, we didn't consider this kind of high-energy-consuming weapon."

"If we want to put high-energy-consuming weapons on board, we must solve the problem of current stability-this involves the transformation of the comprehensive power system of the entire ship."

"At that time, our direction was to use more powerful generators and more energy storage batteries. However, this plan must require changes to the layout of the entire ship, and even occupy the space of other combat modules."

"We revised a lot of drafts, but in the end we didn't reach a finalized design plan. Instead, we had to postpone the plan to launch the ship—to the launch of the next generation of destroyers."

"However, your sulfur-silicon battery gives us new options."

"We can directly add an energy storage module on the basis of the existing power generation, and store the redundant power in the combat readiness cruise to cope with the power consumption peak of the high power consumption unit."

"This is the transformation of the comprehensive power system we mentioned before. The Type 055D-3 ship you see now is the result of our transformation."

After listening to Ma Weiming's explanation, Ye Zhou nodded deeply.

He lacked understanding of the ship's power system itself, so he didn't know that such a small battery could change the entire navy's equipment service plan.

He wanted to ask a question, but Ma Weiming had already continued:

"In addition to the innovation of the integrated power system brought by the battery, there is another major breakthrough that is the ceramic-fluoride iron compound made by Sanchi's research. The properties of this compound are very strange. We optimized it based on its molecular composition. A new generation of negative thermal expansion materials has been developed."

"Of course, I'm not an expert in materials science, so I can't explain the specific situation to you. In short, the final result is that this material can not only withstand high temperature ablation, but also shrink at high temperature, thereby enhancing structural strength and improving rail stability."

"When did this result appear?"

Ye Zhou asked curiously.

"Probably more than 3 months ago—didn't you receive the notice? I remember that the project team was still judging the awards internally at that time, and a large amount of bonuses were issued."

"Uh, I should have received it, but I really didn't pay attention."

Ye Zhou smiled embarrassedly, and Ma Weiming sighed with emotion when he saw his expression.

"I haven't seen anyone like you in years."

"Actually, to be honest, the reasons I told my superiors for inviting you to see the electromagnetic gun today are all excuses. The real reason is that I haven't seen you, so I want to see you."

"I live in Rongcheng now. If you have time, you can go there to find me at any time——I can also find you."

Ma Weiming nodded lightly and replied:
"In the future, if I have the opportunity, I will definitely visit your place again. However, seeing this side today, I am quite satisfied."

"Don't say that, in fact, your contribution to our navy"

"No, I'm not talking about contribution."

Ma Weiming interrupted Ye Zhou.

"Of course, in terms of contribution, you are much older than me. I have the highest confidentiality authority, so I am very aware of the strategic significance of the project you are working on under Kunlun Mountain."

"But that's not what I care about."

"That is."

"I just want to see if you can continue on this road."

"This is not an easy path to take. Even if you are a genius, even if you continue to come up with technologies that change the entire world, you will always face pressure from all directions."

"Economy, policy, public opinion... Some pressures are not directly on you, but you will still feel strenuous."

"Before I saw you, I was worried that you would not be able to go on. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about it now."

"You are much purer than I expected."

As he spoke, Ma Weiming raised his head.

"Okay, I'm not good at saying these words. In short, your big toy will start testing later."

"Electromagnetic gun, although some people always say that it is useless, but in my opinion, it is a sharp weapon that will completely change the pattern of naval warfare."

"Its potential is too great. Maybe one day, combined with a more advanced fire control radar, its performance will surpass that of current missiles. Is it not certain that the era of big gun ships will come back?"

Ye Zhou nodded deeply and did not speak.

He didn't know the difference between the "giant cannon ship" described by Ma Weiming and the giant cannon ship in history, but
When that era comes, the ocean that the Huaxia Navy will navigate should be the Xinghai, right?
(End of this chapter)