Liquid rocket engine injector with variable flow area
AssigneeBlue Origin Manufacturing, LLC
InventorsMark David Horn, Adam Keith Norman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A variable flow area injector for a liquid rocket engine. The injector has a poppet with a variable outer width portion and a housing with a variable inner width portion. An annular flow path is defined between the variable width portions. Increased throttling of the engine passively increases the annular flow area of the injector by forcing the poppet in a distal direction. Decreased throttling allows a restoring spring to move the poppet in a proximal direction to decrease the annular flow area. A bellows can be included to dampen movement of the poppet. The bellows may be in a propellant-filled cavity separate from the main propellant flow path and have a series of openings through which the separate propellant flows.
Claims19
An injector for a rocket combustion chamber, the injector comprising:
- a housing defining a longitudinal axis and having a proximal end and a distal end, the housing defining a variable inner width;
- a poppet configured to move within the housing along the longitudinal axis, wherein a variable annular flow path for a propellant is located between a variable outer width of the poppet and the variable inner width of the housing;
- and
- a spring configured to bias the poppet along the longitudinal axis,
- wherein movement of the poppet toward the proximal end causes a cross-sectional area of the variable annular flow path to decrease, and wherein movement of the poppet toward the distal end causes the cross-sectional area of the variable annular flow path to increase, and
- wherein the housing further comprises a plurality of ports distributed annularly about the housing through which the propellant enters the housing.
An injector for a rocket combustion chamber, the injector comprising:
- a flow path configured for a propellant to flow therethrough, the flow path bounded outwardly by an inner surface of a housing protruding inwardly, the inner surface having a variable housing width section along a longitudinal direction, the flow path bounded inwardly by an outer surface of a poppet protruding outwardly, the outer surface having a variable poppet width section along the longitudinal direction, the variable housing width section and the variable poppet width section defining therebetween a variable annular flow path section;
- and
- a spring disposed at a proximal end of the housing and causing a biasing force on the poppet,
- wherein movement of the poppet toward the proximal end of the housing along the longitudinal direction causes a reduction in a cross-sectional area at a first location of the variable annular flow path section, and movement of the poppet toward a distal end of the housing along the longitudinal direction causes an increase in the cross-sectional area at the first location of the variable annular flow path section.
A method of passively varying a flow rate of a propellant injected into a rocket combustion chamber, the method comprising:
- receiving the propellant into a housing of an injector, the housing defining a longitudinal axis, a proximal end and a distal end;
- applying a biasing force with a spring to a poppet disposed within the housing;
- and
- causing a movement of the poppet within the housing along the longitudinal axis in response to a change in flow rate of the propellant,
- wherein the propellant enters the housing at a location between the proximal end and an annular flow area between the poppet and the housing, wherein the movement of the poppet toward the proximal end causes an outer surface of the poppet to move closer to an inner surface of the housing at the annular flow area, and wherein movement of the poppet toward the distal end causes the outer surface of the poppet to move away from the inner surface of the housing at the annular flow area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.