Rotating detonation engine injector and method of designing
AssigneeUniversity of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsRobert Burke, Taha Rezzag, Adam Kotler, Kareem Ahmed
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotating detonation engine (RDE) injector and method of creating the same. In some embodiments, the RDE injector is configured such that the fuel to oxidizer pressure ratio is in a range of 0.8775 to 1.4917. In some embodiments of the method of creating a RDE a particular combination of propellants is identified, and their gas specific constant and specific heat ratio are recorded. A plurality of initial flow conditions is established, and the compressible mass flow equation is used to determine an appropriate cross-sectional area of each injector to produce a fuel to oxidizer pressure ratio is in a range of 0.8775 to 1.4917.
Claims2
A RDE injector, comprising:
- a plurality of propellant injector nozzle pairings, wherein each pairing is arrayed in a circumferential pattern about the RDE injector;
- each pairing including a fuel injector nozzle and an oxidizer injector nozzle, wherein each fuel injector nozzle is in fluidic communication with a source of hydrogen gas and each oxidizer injector nozzle is in fluidic communication with a source of oxygen;
- each fuel injector nozzle having a length over diameter ratio between 6 and 7, and each oxidizer injector nozzle having a length over diameter ratio between 5 and 6;
- a ratio of (1) a diameter of each oxidizer injector nozzle to (2) a diameter of each fuel injector nozzle between 1.2 and 1.4;
- wherein the injector includes micronozzle injector channels that choke the gas propellant flow as it passes through the injector outlet apertures;
- wherein each paired fuel injector nozzle and oxidizer injector nozzle are configured such that a nozzle injection pressure of hydrogen and a nozzle injection pressure of oxygen passing through the respective nozzles have a hydrogen-oxygen nozzle injection pressure ratio in a range of 0.8775 to 1.4917;
- a ratio of a mass flow rate of hydrogen over a mass flow rate of oxygen between 0.1263 and 0.2147;
- a ratio of (1) a jet momentum of hydrogen at the fuel injector outlet apertures to (2) a jet momentum of oxygen at the oxidizer injector outlet apertures between 0.51 and 0.86, wherein each jet momentum is defined as a product of the corresponding mass flow rate and a flow velocity at the corresponding outlet aperture;
- a ratio of (1) radial spacing of an injector nozzle pairing to (2) a diameter of the fuel injector nozzle that is between 2.5 and 2.7;
- and
- a ratio of (1) a number of the propellant injector nozzle pairings to (2) the diameter of each fuel injector nozzle that is between 2000 and 2200 per unit inch;
- wherein the circumferential pattern is disposed between an inner body and an outer body that form a boundary for a combustor annulus channel of an RDE;
- a ratio of (1) an annulus width of the combustor annulus channel to (2) the diameter of each fuel injector nozzle that is between 5.5 and 5.9:
- a ratio of (1) an annolus diameter of the combustor annulus channel to (2) the annulus width of the combustor annulus channel that is between 14 and 16;
- and
- a ratio of (1) a circumferential spacing of adjacent injector pairs to (2) a diameter of the fuel injector nozzle that is between 3.3 and 3.6.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.