Cold Helium Pressurization for Liquid Oxygen / Liquid Methane Propulsion Systems: Fully-Integrated Initial Hot-Fire Test Results

Morehead, Robert L.; Atwell, Matthew J.; Melcher, John C.; Hurlbert, Eric A.

doi:10.2514/6.2016-4682

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The first ICPTA test campaign was completed in 2015 after upgrading to an active pressurization system with cold helium storage and replacing the Morpheus main engine with a 2,000 lbf-thrust engine. 6 The present effort to be discussed is focused on a test campaign at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station in the Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility (B-2). A detailed overview of the test campaign and its objectives are discussed in Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of a Pressure-Fed LOX/LCH4 Reaction Control System Under Simulated Altitude and Thermal Vacuum Conditions

Atwell

Melcher²,

Hurlbert³

et al. 2017

53rd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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A liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquid methane (LCH4) Reaction Control System (RCS) was tested at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station in the Spacecraft PropulsionResearch Facility (B-2) under simulated altitude and thermal vacuum conditions. The RCS is a subsystem of the Integrated Cryogenic Propulsion Test Article (ICPTA) and was initially developed under Project Morpheus. Composed of two 28 lbf-thrust and two 7 lbf-thrust engines, the RCS is fed in parallel with the ICPTA main engine from four propellant tanks. Forty tests consisting of 1,010 individual thruster pulses were performed across 6 different test days. Major test objectives were focused on system dynamics, and included characterization of fluid transients, manifold priming, manifold thermal conditioning, Thermodynamic Vent System (TVS) performance, and main engine/RCS interaction. Peak surge pressures from valve opening and closing events were examined. It was determined that these events were impacted significantly by vapor cavity formation and collapse. In most cases, the valve opening transient was more severe than the valve closing. Under thermal vacuum conditions it was shown that TVS operation is unnecessary to maintain liquid conditions at the thruster inlets. However, under higher heat leak environments, the RCS can still be operated in a self-conditioning mode without overboard TVS venting, contingent upon a sufficient duty cycle and the engines managing a range of potentially severe thermal transients. Lastly, the engines experienced significant ignition problems during testing under cold thermal conditions. Successful ignition was demonstrated only after warming the thruster bodies with a gaseous nitrogen purge to an intermediate temperature. Nomenclature

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%