COIL power extraction enhanced by reducing/eliminating iodine clusters in a high Mach number nitrogen mixing nozzle

Abstract

Heterogeneous iodine cluster formation has been identified as the responsible factor resulting in large iodine titration requirements for Boeing's first high Mach number nitrogen ejector nozzle. A solution employing geometrically produced aerodynamic heating in the flow was envisioned to break up these clusters. Horizontal and vertical wire arrays (cluster busters) placed downstream of the nozzle exit plane (NEP) have been shown to significantly reduce the optimal iodine titration and to greatly improve the power extraction efficiency of the Chemical OxygenIodine Laser utilizing this first generation ejector nozzle.

Ejector COIL with supersonic nozzle bank based on trip-jet mixing system

“…In addition, rapid expansion of the high-pressure I 2 /N 2 flow caused iodine condensation. They recently proposed an iodine cluster buster simply with wires [7].…”