Development of a nitrous oxide monopropellant hot gas generator for rocket propellant pressurization and spacecraft thruster applications
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Interest in space flight is increasing toward levels not seen since the race to the moon in the late 1960s. Government funding for manned and unmanned space flight has been waning in the years following 2000. However, investment from the private sector has stepped in to fill this void, with the ultimate aims of privatizing manned space flight (i.e., for space tourism or even selling transportation services back to governments) and providing private launch services for commercial satellites. If the promise of commercialized space flight is to be delivered in a widespread fashion, critical obstacles must be overcome, such as cost, reliability, and environmental impact. The research demonstrated here addresses the above obstacles by proposing and investigating the catalytic decomposition of nitrous oxide (N2O) for several applications, including a monopropellant for propulsion, pressurization, and power generation. N2O has the potential to serve as a low-cost, safe, and environmentally friendly 'green' monopropellant. As a self-pressuring gas with self-sustaining decomposition, it could be used to pressurize liquid oxidizer propellant tanks, which would allow for the replacement of bulky, high pressure tanks with much smaller, lighter tanks. It could also be used as propulsion for small satellites, or as a reliable auto-ignition source for larger liquid or hybrid rocket engines. However, if the promise of N2O for propulsion and pressurization applications is to be realized, its performance (e.g., energy release efficiency and specific impulse under various bed loading conditions) must be experimentally determined and optimized. To experimentally investigate the capabilities of N2O, a test facility has been constructed, and a robust subscale test article has been fabricated. Three catalyst bed configurations have been hot fire tested in this facility: (1) a silicon carbide planar device, (2) a 1/2" axisymmetric metallic device, and (3) a 1" axisymmetric metallic device. Novel designs were successfully developed and tested in order to address the main challenges of this work (containing high temperature oxidizing core flow, lowering activation energy (thus minimizing input power), and ensuring safety). Also, the capability of rhodium and iridium as catalysts was investigated, and low-power startup was demonstrated. The experimental results demonstrated in this work are used to describe a path to scaling down the device to MEMS-fabricated micro-scale, as well as scaling up to power-generating gas generator.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Lohner, Kevin Andrew |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| Primary advisor | Kenny, Thomas William |
| Thesis advisor | Kenny, Thomas William |
| Thesis advisor | Cantwell, Brian |
| Thesis advisor | Goodson, Kenneth E, 1967- |
| Advisor | Cantwell, Brian |
| Advisor | Goodson, Kenneth E, 1967- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Kevin A. Lohner. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2012. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Kevin Andrew Lohner
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