Spark exciter operational unit
AssigneeAlphaport, Inc.
InventorsAnthony J. Miranda, John Heese
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hardware configuration and related control strategy is disclosed that accepts an electric power input typical of space flight systems and converts that energy into a spark pulse train with fixed/predetermined performance metrics for the following system parameters: time to first spark, peak breakdown voltage amplitude, spark repetition rate and energy delivered per spark, which have all been optimally chosen to reliably ignite certain fuel mixtures, which have been proven to be beneficial for use in aerospace applications.
Claims17
A spark exciter operational unit for a flight system comprising an exciter assembly and an ignitor, wherein the spark exciter operational unit comprises:
- (1) an input connector for receiving an electrical current and a (2) a DC-DC electrical current converter, wherein the exciter assembly and ignitor generates sparks having a voltage, energy and frequency to reliably initiate ignition and combustion of non-hypergolic green fuels for space flight, wherein the input connector supplies an input voltage to the exciter assembly ranging from about 9 V to about 120 V, wherein the spark exciter operational unit further comprises an output current ranging from about 6 kV to about 25 kV, an output breakdown current supplied to a spark gap within an igniter assembly which is about 15 kV, a spark rate ranging from about 1 to about 300 sparks per second and a spark energy ranging between about 1 mJ to about 115 mJ.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.