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Experimental Investigation of a Monopropellant Thruster Using Hydrogen Peroxide

Nikfar, Rouzbeh | 2017

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 50354 (45)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Aerospace Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Farahani, Mohammad
  7. Abstract:
  8. Monopropellant thrusters are one of the most common types of propulsion systems that are used extensively in space applications. Especially thrusters with a capacity of less than 50N, they are used on space satellites and are developing rapidly. Problems such as contamination, toxicity of the propellant, difficulty in storing and custody, as well as price, led to the removal of the hydrazine from the focus of attention and focus on green propulsion. One of these, is the green propellant of hydrogen peroxide, which is decomposed in the proper catalytic vicinity, and the only chemical decomposition products are oxygen and water vapour. The present study aims to design and construct mono propellant thrusters with hydrogen peroxide green propulsion and evaluate performance conditions.In this regard, two prototype mono propellant thruster, were designed and constructed to capacity of 1 and 22 N, in order to evaluate the performance characteristics of this type of thrusters in 2 different classes (low and medium thrust capacity).According to the requirements, only the 1N thruster was tested and the specifications for the design and construction of the 22 N thruster are presented as a laboratory sample. The effect of pre-heating the catalyst chamber of the thruster and the type, size and the arrangement of the catalysts used in monopropellant thrusters are the major issues addressed in the previous research. The 1 N thruster's catalyst chamber was preheated to a specific temperature, and the thruster were tested by tow kinds of platinum catalysts with monolithic and foam bases, as well as two kinds of silver screen catalyst and silver pellet catalyst, in various conditions.The results of the experiments with the platinum monolithic catalyst and initial chamber preheating up to 70oC did not have favourable results due to leakage in some of the connections. Maximum produced thrust and specific impulse in this experiment were obtained at 0.76 N and 117 seconds, respectively, and the temperature of the chamber reached 553oC, but unusual temp behaviour was reported. The platinum foam catalyst was also tested with the initial preheating, producing a 0.82 N thrust and a specific impulse of 103 seconds. In this experiment, the presence of a leak in the connections and the two-phase flow in the nozzle exposed the performance characteristics of the thruster. Experiments were carried out with a catalyst of silver screen and silver pellets, cold and hot starts. The result obtained from these experiments show that a cold start in thruster, follows impermanence in the performance of the thruster, and a reduction in the level of the produced thrust and specific impulse. On the other hand, the result of the thruster test with initial preheating up to 200oC indicate that the performance characteristics of the thruster is significantly improved. The thruster test with silver screen catalyst and preheating up to 200oC has the best performance characteristics. In this test, produced thrust reached 0.85 N and specific impulse overtook 123.7 seconds
  9. Keywords:
  10. Thruster ; Catalyst ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; Liquid Fuels ; Propulsion ; Thrust ; Monopropellant

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