Thrust vector control for hybrid propellants rocket engine with embedded fluid injection ports
AssigneeLaboratoire Reaction Dynamics Inc.
InventorsBachar Elzein, Miguel Gagnon, Maxime Goulet-Bourdon
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Abstract
A hybrid rocket engine system has: an oxidizer tank containing a liquid oxidizer; a rocket engine having a combustion chamber operatively connected to the oxidizer tank; a solid propellant fuel within the combustion chamber; a nozzle fluidly connected to the combustion chamber, the nozzle having a convergent section and a divergent section downstream of the convergent section; and a thrust vector control device operatively connected to the divergent section of the nozzle and operable to inject a fluid through at least one aperture defined through the divergent section for controlling a direction of a thrust generated by the rocket engine.
Claims15
A rocket engine comprising:
- a casing circumferentially extending around a longitudinal axis to circumscribe a combustion chamber, the combustion chamber extending along the longitudinal axis, the combustion chamber having an inlet and an outlet, the combustion chamber defining a fuel-receiving volume, the inlet fluidly connectable to a source of an oxidizer, the outlet in fluid communication with an environment outside the combustion chamber for expelling combustion gases;
- a solid fuel located within the fuel-receiving volume, the solid fuel configured to be exposed to the oxidizer injected in the combustion chamber via the inlet, the solid fuel having a face exposed to the oxidizer, an area of the face increasing as the solid fuel is being burned away, wherein a mass flow rate of combustion gases generated by the solid fuel remains constant while a mass flow rate of the oxidizer in the combustion chamber is constant.
A rocket engine comprising:
- a casing circumferentially extending around a longitudinal axis to circumscribe a combustion chamber, the combustion chamber extending along the longitudinal axis, the combustion chamber having an inlet and an outlet, the combustion chamber defining a fuel-receiving volume, the inlet fluidly connectable to a source of an oxidizer, the outlet in fluid communication with an environment outside the combustion chamber for expelling combustion gases;
- a solid fuel located within the fuel-receiving volume, the solid fuel configured to be exposed to the oxidizer injected in the combustion chamber via the inlet, the solid fuel having a face exposed to the oxidizer, an area of the face increasing as the solid fuel is being burned away, wherein the solid fuel includes a central rod, a first tube around the central rod, and a second tube around the first tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.