The inner surface profile measurement apparatus for an electromagnetic rail-gun launcher

There are much inner damage consisting of wear, corrosion, gouging, and transition in the process of electromagnetic launch. In order to study damage mechanism, it is essential to detect the bore profile of electromagnetic rail-gun. In this paper, the inner surface profile detector is developed for measurement damage location and shape of electromagnetic rail-gun. The detector which uses the way of laser triangle consists of laser generator, image collector, main control circuit, and mechanical structure. Using field programmable gate array as the main control chip, the collected graphics are processed. The photoelectric measuring method used in this instrument has the characteristics of high accuracy, non-contact and on-line measurement. It can also provide the result of fixed-point measurement and the image of the cross section of any position of the tube being measured. Through the comparison of the ideal contour and the measured profile of the electromagnetic rail-gun, the damage profile can be obtained. In the experiment, the object is a barrel of electromagnetic rail-gun with a length of 6 m, height of 40 mm, and width of 30 mm. Finally, we can get 2-D and 3-D bore profiles of the launcher.