Vaporizing Liquid Microthrusters with integrated heaters and temperature measurement

Silva, Marsil A. C.; Guerrieri, Daduí Cordeiro; Zeijl, Henk van; Cervone, Angelo; Gill, Eberhard

doi:10.1016/j.sna.2017.07.032

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…A design exit pressure of 100 Pa is used. Further correction due to viscous effects are needed, as the flow will have a low Reynolds number and a boundary layer displacement thickness approaching the order of the nozzle diameter [2]. These effects are captured in a corrected thrust coefficient CF,…”

Section: Geometric Approximation Of Nozzlementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Milli-Newton Propulsion System for the Asteroid Mobile Imager and Geologic Observer (AMIGO)

Wilburn

Asphaug

Thangavelautham

2019

2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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Exploration of small bodies, namely comets and asteroids remain a challenging endeavor due to their low gravity. The risk is so high that missions such as Hayabusa II and OSIRIS-REx will be performing touch and go missions to obtain samples. The next logical step is to perform longer-term mobility on the surface of these asteroid. This can be accomplished by sending small landers of a 1 kg or less with miniature propulsion systems that can just offset the force of asteroid gravity. Such a propulsion system would ideally be used to hop on the surface of the asteroid. Hopping has been found to be most efficient form of mobility on low-gravity. Use of wheels for rolling presents substantial challenges as the wheel can't gain traction to roll. The Asteroid Mobile Imager and Geologic Observer (AMIGO) utilizes 1 kg landers that are stowed in a 1U CubeSat configuration and deployed, releasing an inflatable that is 1-m in diameter. The inflatable is attached to the top of the 1U lander, enabling high speed communications and a means of easily tracking lander from an overhead mothership. Milligravity propulsion is required for the AMIGO landers to perform ballistic hops on the asteroid surface. The propulsion system is used to navigate the lander across the surface of the asteroid under the extremely low gravity while taking care to not exceed escape velocity. Although the concept for AMIGO missions is to use multiple landers, the more surface area evaluated by each lander the better. Without a propulsion system, each AMIGO will have a limited range of observable area. The propulsion system also serves as a rough attitude control system (ACS), as it enables pointing and regulation over where the lander is positioned via an array of MEMS thrusters. Several different techniques have been proposed for hopping nano-landers on low gravity environments including use of reaction wheels, electro-polymers, and rocket thrusters. In this concept, we will be heating sublimate to provide propulsive thrust which is simple and effective. Storing the propulsive gas as a solid provides much better storage density to ensure the longest lifetime possible. The starting point for this propulsion system involves selection of an appropriate, high-performance sublimate that meets the mobility needs of AMIGO. The paper will cover selection of the right sublimate, initial design and prototyping of the thruster using standard off-the-shelf arrays of electro-active MEMs valves. The device will be integrated with the fuel source with thrust profiles measured inside a millinewton test stand inside a vacuum chamber. MEMS devices are to be used because of the weight and volume saving potential compared to traditional large-sized thrusting mechanisms. Through these efforts we are advancing on a milli-newton thruster that use non-combustibles and can be readily integrated onto nano-landers for asteroid surface exploration.

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Section: Geometric Approximation Of Nozzlementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The negative of this design is that each nozzle can only be used once, limiting the mission duration. Use of water for propulsion is another viable option [2][3][27][28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Milli-Newton Propulsion System for the Asteroid Mobile Imager and Geologic Observer (AMIGO)

Wilburn

Asphaug

Thangavelautham

2019

2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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“…The temperature sensors are placed close to the nozzle which is the most suitable position due to the size of the thruster. The design of the MEMS resistojet is described in [8].…”

Section: A Background 1) Vaporizing Liquid Microthrustermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to overcome this challenge, we developed an empirical model for the change in the volume of gas inside the chamber. One of the thrusters presented in [8] was selected to undergo a series of tests to correlate the pressure and chip temperature to the volume of gas inside the chamber. Then, a linear model for the volume of gas was identified using snapshots taken during the experiments, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: B Vaporizing Liquid Microthruster 1) Nozzle Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Comprehensive Model for Control of Vaporizing Liquid Microthrusters

Silva

Silvestrini

Guerrieri

et al. 2019

IEEE Trans. Contr. Syst. Technol.

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This brief presents a comprehensive approach for the modeling of micropropulsion systems based on the vaporization of a liquid. The model combines the analytical and empirical relations derived from extensive experimental analysis and fundamental physical laws. This allows modeling of key parameters, such as mass flow rate, for the entire system comprising a tank to store the liquid propellant, a valve to control the mass flow, and a microthruster that vaporizes the propellant and accelerates it generating thrust. The model is evaluated by a sensitivity analysis considering the boundaries of the modeling space, and it has been tested in a simulation loop demonstrating the attitude control of a nanosatellite using a set of four thrusters. The results of the simulation are used to test the developed model.

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A tubular vaporizing liquid micro-thruster with induction heating

Liu

Wang

et al. 2020

Heat Mass Transfer

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Vaporizing Liquid Microthrusters with integrated heaters and temperature measurement

Cited by 22 publications

References 21 publications

A Milli-Newton Propulsion System for the Asteroid Mobile Imager and Geologic Observer (AMIGO)

A Milli-Newton Propulsion System for the Asteroid Mobile Imager and Geologic Observer (AMIGO)

A Comprehensive Model for Control of Vaporizing Liquid Microthrusters

A tubular vaporizing liquid micro-thruster with induction heating

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