DRIE-Fabrcated Nozzles for Generating Supersonic Flows in Micropropulsion Systems

To enable formation flying of micro satellites, small sized propulsion systems are required. Our research focuses on the miniaturization of a feeding and thruster system by means of micro system technology (MST). Three fabrication methods have been investigated to make a conical converging-diverging nozzle. These methods are reactive ion etching, femtosecond laser machining (FLM) and a combination of powderblasting and heat treatment. It is shown that the latter two methods are very promising.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nozzle fabrication for micropropulsion of a microsatellite

Louwerse

Jansen

Groenendijk³

et al. 2009

“…One of the most simple and efficient ways of creating large directional forces is to utilize fluid expansion through a nozzle. With recent breakthroughs in micro fabrication technology, there has been a fair amount of effort placed in the design, fabrication, and experimentation of tiny nozzles with a throat area less than 1 mm 2 (e.g., [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]). Because of their tremendous thrust to weight ratios and relatively simple design and fabrication, these so-called micro nozzles have many useful applications including attitude control for small air-and spacecraft, boundary layer control and the power supply of a micro system [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1997, researchers at MIT [11] introduced a microbipropellant rocket engine capable of producing 15 N of thrust while consuming 5 g s −1 of liquid oxygen and ethanol 3 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supersonic flow in miniature nozzles of planar configuration

Chen¹,

Winter²,

Huang³

2005

Supersonic flow of nitrogen gas through miniature nozzles of planar configuration was investigated experimentally and compared with numerical simulations to assess the applicability and accuracy of the various viscous-flow models. The design Mach number of the nozzles is 3, and the inlet pressures range from 0 to 10 atm (gauge). The measured thrust of the meso nozzle with a throat area of 0.773 mm2 agreed well with the numerical solution (96%). The agreement of the micro nozzle, with a throat area of 0.0625 mm2, decreased to 80% for pressure differences beyond the design flow condition. At low-pressure differences, separated flow occurred after the shock in the nozzle, causing unstable and asymmetric velocity distributions on the nozzle exit plane. Thrust was found to be not only a function of pressure difference but also a function of the flow history. The numerical simulation was successful in modeling these effects, but at different pressures.

“…Bayt et al [7] did a great deal of work on the simulation, fabrication and testing of micro-sized nozzles for generating supersonic flows. Extruded two-dimensional devices, with minimum throat widths averaging 19 µm and 35 µm, were fabricated using micromachining technologies (e.g., deep reactive ion etching (DRIE)) and the anodic wafer bonding technique.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead of drilling holes ultrasonically in the pyrex wafer [7], DRIE is used for creating inlet and outlet ports in the silicon wafer for gas injection and expulsion, which is more compatible with conventional microfabrication techniques. Converging-diverging nozzle structures are formed in SU-8 film using normal lithography, which can precisely control the dimensions of the microstructures [9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of micronozzles using low-temperature wafer-level bonding with SU-8

Freidhoff

Young

et al. 2003

This paper describes a method for fabricating micronozzles using low-temperature wafer-level adhesive bonding with SU-8. The influence of different parameters on the bonding of structured wafers has been investigated. The surface energies of bonded wafers are measured to be in the range of 0.42-0.56 J m −2 , which are comparable to those of some directly bonded wafers. Converging-diverging nozzle structures with throat widths as small as 3.6 µm are formed in an SU-8 film bonded with another SU-8 intermediate layer to produce sealed micronozzles. A novel interconnection technique is developed to interface and test the micronozzles with a macroscopic fluid delivery system to demonstrate the feasibility of the fabrication process. Leakage test results show that this low-temperature wafer bonding process is a viable MEMS fabrication technique for microfluidic applications.