Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Aerospace Science and Technology Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
2)
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
3)
Research Center for Energy Technology and Strategy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
For increasing global environmental and safety concerns, the concept of green, environment-friendly and economical propulsion
technology is becoming one of the most important topics in modern space propulsion development. Hydrogen peroxide recently re-attract
intensive attention and considered as a green propellant due to its outstanding features of being non-toxic to human and environment,
relatively safe to store and easy to produce. However, hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster suffers from the problem of catalyst
durability which significantly affects the thruster performance and lifespan. In the study, silver is selected as the active catalyst for
hydrogen peroxide decomposition and it is alternately packing with support materials. By hierarchical deployment of particle size of
support materials, the active area of the catalyst bed can be adjusted and the structural strength of the catalyst bed is enhanced. This
composite catalyst bed configuration is used in the development of a 1lbf-level hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster with a shower
head injector. The results of ground and vacuum tests demonstrate that the current catalyst bed design significantly improve the thruster
performance, especially in low-temperature start. The measured static thrust under atmosphere condition is about 0.56 lbf (Isp ~105 s,
with a mass flow rate of 2.44g/s of H2O2) and it is about 0.92 lbf ( Isp = ~ 157 s) under 10-4 torr vacuum condition for repeated and long
duration tests. This result confirms the reliability of the composite catalyst configuration. In addition, the 1lbf hydrogen peroxide thruster
with composite catalyst configuration is constructed as a propulsion system onboard a Sounding Rocket as the payload to verify the key
techniques and the high altitude performance of the thruster system. The Sounding Rocket will be launched in May, 2013.
1.
Introduction
(1)
2.
Catalyst Bed
Performance Tests
5.
Conclusion
References
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W. Quick, Vol. 20, Butterworths, London, 1956.G.
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Catalyst Beds for 98-Percent-Concentration Hydrogen Peroxide,
NASA TN D-1808, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.
1963.
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Buildup And Decay Time For A 90 Percent Hydrogen Peroxide
Control Rocket, NASA TN D-516, 1960.
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Catalyst
Beds,
AIAA
paper
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Using Composite Silver Catalyst, Masters degree thesis, National
Cheng Kung University, 2006.
Connect to
Pressure Transducer
Distributing Plate Spring
Nozzle
Connect to
Thermocouple
Fig. 3.
Figures
Fig. 4.
Fig. 1.
HTP.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 9.
Fig. 7. The result of thruster performance test at a cold start and hot start.
The propellant tank pressure set 250 psi and the chamber pressure at 198
psi.
Fig. 10. The test sequence of the thruster onboard the Sounding Rocket
for flight test
Fig. 11. Hot fire test according to flight test sequence in atmospheric
condition.
Fig. 12. The result of final hot fire test in vacuum chamber before
launching.