Chapter 1422: 40 tons isn’t enough, so what about 0.4 tons?

When Chang Haonan came to the Dingxin Base again after a few months, the Gobi Desert had already welcomed the scorching summer.

He walked out of the cabin, sniffed the air at the door which smelled slightly of sand, and easily saw the somewhat crude "electromagnetic transmitter" in the distance through the mist.

It is actually an electromagnetic cannon.

However, if you don't know it in advance, it would be difficult to see too many characteristics of a "cannon" from it.

For example, there is no slender cylindrical gun barrel, but instead an extended long strip frame similar to a slide rail.

As a verification device, it also involves the risk of leakage of hydrogen and oxygen, so there is no closed fighting room, but a fully open design is directly adopted.

Even the control console was just a temporary mobile cabin built nearby.

As a result, from the perspective of the apron, it looks more like some kind of engineering lifting equipment.

Base engineer Wang Zhenguo was waiting next to the gangway. When Chang Haonan shook hands with him, he noticed that the other person had quite obvious sun spots at the corners of his eyes.

This didn't exist at the beginning of the year, but obviously I've been doing a lot of outdoor work recently.

"Academician Chang, Researcher Han is currently inspecting the auxiliary cooling facilities, so he didn't come here in person."

Wang Zhenguo handed over a safety helmet and led Chang Haonan to the Mengshi off-road vehicle behind him.

"That doesn't matter. Test preparation comes first..."

Having said that, Chang Haonan paused in fastening his seat belt.

Because he suddenly saw through the rearview mirror that a group of people in navy blue work clothes had just gathered and boarded a minibus, and then followed in the same direction as him.

"Has our base taken on a new test project from the Navy?"

Although the Dingxin Base is under the management and operation of the General Armament Department, it was proposed by Chang Haonan after all, so even if it is not the latter's project, it would not hurt for him to ask a few questions.

"That's not true..."

Wang Zhenguo looked back and shook his head:

"It should be the technical team of Academician Ma Mingwei from the Naval University of Engineering who came to inspect the testing conditions here, but we don't know what specific project they are going to carry out."

This name immediately aroused Chang Haonan's interest.

For the sake of convenience, the ground test of the electromagnetic catapult was carried out directly at the carrier-based aviation training base in western Liaoning, so the other party traveled thousands of miles to Dingxin, definitely for other reasons.

And if he remembered correctly, there were only some base camp buildings along this road, and there didn't seem to be a second workstation that could be used for testing.

In other words, the other party might not be planning to conduct any new technical verification here...

Of course, the speed of the jeep was much faster than that of the minibus, so it quickly left it behind for a distance.

Within a few minutes, the electromagnetic gun test bench appeared in front of Chang Haonan.

The nine-meter-long launch track points to the sky like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath. The water-cooling pipes wrapped around it are intricately woven together. If you look closely, you can see a faint cloud of steam on the surface.

Apparently a subsystem test had just been completed.

Near the prefabricated house next door, Han Chenfeng, who was wearing work clothes, was holding a walkie-talkie and giving instructions attentively:

"The water-alcohol mixture ratio is adjusted to 1:2.3?"

He suddenly turned around and asked the technician who was operating the terminal, and thus noticed Chang Haonan who had already got off the car.

"Academician Chang."

The latter waved his hand, signaling the other party to continue with the work at hand and report back after finishing.

Fortunately, there didn't seem to be much work left. Han Chenfeng quickly completed the deployment and then ran to Chang Haonan excitedly:

"Academician Chang, we have revised the inner contour of the detonation reflection cavity, reducing the second harmonic oscillation by 17%. In addition, we have readjusted the iron core armature of the moving magnet motor to further expand the movement of the mover. Now we can make full use of the designed 9-meter launch track. Let's go to the control room to discuss the details..."

"..."

Because hydrogen-oxygen detonation magnetohydrodynamic power generation has bypassed the most troublesome energy storage problem in the electromagnetic launch process, the content that needs to be reported is actually not particularly complicated.

Only about forty minutes later, Chang Haonan and Han Chenfeng appeared at the door of the control room again.

Just at this moment, the minibus that had just set off behind them happened to appear at the intersection.

According to the time calculation, it is impossible that this short distance of a few kilometers would take nearly an hour to drive, so it is obvious that the other party came here on a whim after making some other trips.

Sure enough, only a few people got off the car.

Seeing Chang Haonan just coming out of the control room, the leading officer's eyes lit up and he quickly stepped forward:

"Academician Chang, long time no see."

It was Ma Mingwei who led the team.

The two had met several times before in the process of determining the power mode for the navy destroyers. Although they had never cooperated directly, they were familiar with each other.

"Academician Ma, I saw you guys on the tarmac just now."

Chang Haonan took the initiative to lead the other party to the test area and said half-jokingly:

"Are you planning to come and inspect the progress of our project?"

But Ma Weiming didn't mean to joke at all:

"I dare not talk about the inspection... I was just in the middle of the meeting just now, and suddenly heard that Academician Chang happened to be here, so I came to visit you a little abruptly."

Chang Haonan knew that the other party was now fully engaged in the research and development of electromagnetic catapult technology. It was impossible that he came here just out of curiosity. He must have some ideas about the technology used in this electromagnetic cannon.

So I didn't beat around the bush and asked directly:

"Academician Ma is interested in this gun?"

Such a straightforward approach made Ma Mingwei stunned, and then he nodded openly:

"To be honest, it is indeed true..."

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the set of hydrogen-oxygen detonation tubes arranged in a revolver-shaped cylinder below the cannon base:

"They all provide short pulse energy, and the cost of hydrogen, oxygen, and detonation tubes is not high. At least, they are much cheaper than high-power energy storage components such as inductors and capacitors, and they are also much easier to maintain."

To some extent, the basic principles of electromagnetic guns and electromagnetic catapults are the same.

There are just some differences in the specific requirements.

Chang Haonan thought that the other party had encountered some difficulties with the energy storage components and wanted to take an unconventional approach, so he quickly gave a shot in case of unnecessary expectations:

"Academician Ma, the power generated by hydrogen-oxygen detonation is not linear, and is especially affected by the load level..."

In fact, at the very beginning, he thought about using this technology to develop electromagnetic catapults.

But after calculation, it was found that it was not feasible in engineering:

"If you want to launch a 40-ton aircraft, you probably need to make the detonation tube as big as a wind tunnel to meet the requirement. Moreover, in order to meet the launch frequency, you need at least 6-8 such detonation tubes. Even if a 10-ton aircraft carrier is equipped with three catapults, it will take up an unbearable amount of space... Overall, it is probably not as good as a steam catapult."

However, Ma Mingwei did not show any disappointment:

"I know that. Of course it won't work on a 40-ton aircraft. I'm not planning on moving your detonation tubes onto an aircraft carrier."

After he finished speaking, he paused for a moment and turned his gaze back to Chang Haonan:

"But what if I only want to eject 4 tons, or even 0.4 tons?"