Electromagnetic Coilgun

Utilizing electromagnetic forces for weapon technology

As part of my advanced research, I have built a makeshift coilgun. This project serves only as proof of concept, thus the ejected projectile is far too slow to hurt anybody. The shooting range barely amounts to one meter when the projectile is ejected from shoulder height. Also, the projectile’s kinetic energy is far below 0.5 joules, a limit that cannot be exceeded by modifications using common tools. But the theory behind this technology has been proven in practice by this coilgun.

For academic and educational purposes, I wanted to publish my research.

This is the circuit diagram:

An Arduino Nano microcontroller functions as the “brain” of this coilgun. The projectile’s position inside the barrel is measured by four optical (infrared) sensors. Each of them is placed directly behind the respective copper coil.

After pressing the button, the first coil will be activated and builds up its magnetic field which begins to attract the projectile.

Once the projectile, an ordinary nail, is inside the coil, it will be noticed by the respective sensor and the coil shuts down so that the nail keeps its additional momentum. This process gets repeated four times until the projectile gets ejected out of the barrel’s end. The Arduino Nano’s built-in LED at pin 13 serves as an indicator, lighting up only when all coils are off. Pressing the built-in reset button turns off all coils.

The Arduino Nano, as well as the sensors, are powered by a five-volt power bank, while the coils have a nine-volt battery as their separate power source. Additionally, an array of three electrolytic capacitors is being used to smooth out possible fluctuations in the power grid. Also, I had to use many cables because I didn’t solder the connections.

And finally, this is the software that has been uploaded to the microcontroller:

https://github.com/SebastianSupreme/Coilgun/blob/main/main.cpp

I think it’s amazing to see raw physical forces, engineering, and software acting in harmony to create something as magnificent as this project. And a coilgun like this is the perfect example of a project that has been developed using this whole spectrum. This is because this coilgun allows its user to playfully experience electromagnetic forces.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

© 2022 Sebastian Supreme