Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
AlAA 90-1835
The SEPR 844 Reusable liquid Rocket Engine
for Mirage Combat Aircraft
H. Grosdemange
Societe Europeene de Propulsion
Vernon, FRANCE
G. Schaeffer
Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation
Saint Cloud
FRANCE
AIAAISAEIASM ElASEE
26th Joint Propulsion Conference
AIM-90-1835
HervC GROSDEMANGE
Socittt Euro@enne de Propulsion
Fori3 de Vernon
Vernon - FRANCE
Guy SCHAEFFER
Avions Marcel Dassault-Brtguet Aviation
Quai Marcel Dassault
Saint Cloud - FRANCE
ABSTRACT
The SEPR 844 rocket engine for Mirage I11 combat aircraft is the
last version of a bipropellant rocket engine family developed by
SEP for aircraftpropulsion.
The SEPR 844 is a 15 kN thrust, single-chamber rocket engine. It
operates with nitric acid and aircraft supplied kerosene. The
ignition is made with a hypergolic nitric acid - TX2 combustion.
Thechamber is fed by twocentrifugalpumps driven by an auxiliary
shaft coming from the aircraft turbojet engine. The combustion
chamber is regeneratively cooled and operates at 2.35 MPa pressure.
SinceDecember 1961,275enginesoftheSEPR84class(SEPR 841
and SEPR 844)have been used operationnaly in six countries and
have completed more than 10000 flights with a 99 % success rate
and a high availability : These engine demonstrated more than SO
ignitions without removal and can be serviced in less than 15
minutes.
~~~
1
Copyright
GENESIS
'
DEVELOPMENT OF THE
MIRAGE IlllSEPR 84 SERlE COUPLE
In late 3955. Llassault launched thc Mirage 111, using thc Miragc If
wings and thc SNECMA ATAR 1 0 1 G turbojetengine.The Miragc
I l l 001 n i ~ d eits~rnaidcn flight in November 1956. In July 1957
began the rockci flights with the new SEPK 84 cnginc.
i t h [ti<
The Air Forcc sclcctcd the Miragc I11 and 10 preproduction Miragc
III A , improved vcrsion powcrcd with the ATAR 9R turbojct
cngine. wcrc ordered.
SO9050Tridcnt I I
Afterwards. in 1955. beean therocket fliehtson
"
with the hichambers SEPR 63 scrie (15 kN per chamber)
From May 1959, thc Miragc I11 A02 (sec figure 3) tcsted the SEPR
840 (15 rockct flighls) and SEPK 841 (444 rocket nights), two
"
Nitti
[tic
ground test
The Mirage 111C, production fighter equippcd with the SEPR 841,
made its first flight in 1960 and entered operationnal service in
December 1961.
~ E P 844
R TECHNICAL
A chemically neutral oil is utilized for the ball bearings and the
gcars.
A pneumatic controled cluth provides for the connections-deconnection
o f the driving shaft.
DESCRIPT~ON
Combustion rhumber
Propellant di5tributor
Kero\ene inlet
KeroJenc pump
?\
2085
w o
Attach points
Driving .shaft
I
0I
Figure 4 SEPR 844 Engine layout
3
The propellant fed valves open pneumatically and are closed under
a spring effort.
The figure 6 shows the entire feed system
The pneumatic system requixs 0.8 MPa air contained in a IS MPa
pressurized tank.
9
IO
I1
12
IS
14
15
16
17
Driving \haft
Cluth
Arid pump impellc~r
h i d j e t pump
Acidjet p u m p injection
Arid feed vulve
Acid bleed v n l w
Acid filter
7 x 2 tank
3
E
F
G
II
Combustion chamber
Chamber inner wall
Chamber external wall
Nozzle extension
Injection system
Distributor
Distributor control valve
Acid ignition valve
Acid steady sfate rate valve
10
11
12
I3
14
D
E
IS
I;
16
17
I8
G
I
The table 1 , bclow, gives the main caracteristics of the SEPR 844
rocket engine.
TABLE 1
SEPR 844 MAIN CARACTERISTICS
Oxidizer
Fuel
Ignition
: HN03 + TX2
: 1255
: 1555
llxidizer
: 7.15
Mixture ratio
:4
: 2.35
OXIDIZER PUMP :
Inlet pressure, MPa
Exit pressure, MPa
:> 0.06
: 5.3
The SEPR 844 thrust axis makes a 9" 30 angle with the aircraft
thrust axis (see figure 4).
FUEL PUMP :
Inlet pressure, MPa
Exit pressure, MPa
: >0.1
: ..4
: 3.4
: 4890
: 15500
: 158
: 82
In its repair planning, the SEPK 844 has to be removed from the
Miragc 111 every SO ignitions. The most critical parts must be
changed : i t concerns mainly the acid subsystems like the acid
pump, the acid valves, the acid filter. The chamber inner wall must
also be changed, but it has been demonstrated operationaly that this
clement can complete 70 ignitions without any damage.
OPERATIONAL UTlLlSATlON
The SEPK 841 entered operational service in December 1961 at the
Dijon Air base. To the end of its operational service in 1970, thcsc
engines completed 1505 rocket flights (representing 2064 ignitions).
The SEPK 844 entered operational service in June 1967 at the
Colmar Air base.
One hundred and sixty four SEPK 84 1 and one hundred and eleven
SEPK 844 have beenproduced (see Figure9) and used opcrationaly
in 6 countries : France, Lybia, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain and
S wi tLerland.
More than 10000 rocket flights have been completed with a 99 %
SUCCSS rate.
The end of the SEPR 844 operational service in the Frcnch Ai1
Force happened in 1984.
The Swiss Air Force still utilizes the SEPK 844 rockct engine with
its Mirage 111 S (see figure IO).
From May 1969 to April 1990, the twenty Swiss SEPK 844 have
performed 2170 rocket flights, representing 4575 in flights ignitionc
(for a total of 5699 in flights and ground ignitions).
7
Figure I O :Mirage I11 S andSEPR 844 rocket engine during a ground test.
CONCLUSION
The SEPK 841 and 844 showcd that the rockct propulsion answered
well to their required specifications and that the reusability of
rockct cnginc with a high availability can be possible.