Partial superheat cycle for operating a pump in a rocket system
AssigneeXCOR Aerospace
InventorsJeffrey K. Greason, Daniel L. DeLong, Douglas B. Jones
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method of driving a fuel pump and/or an oxidizer pump in a propulsion system includes pumping an oxidizer from an oxidizer supply to a rocket engine with the oxidizer pump. A first portion of the pumped oxidizer is used for combustion in the rocket engine. The heat from the combustion of the first portion of the oxidizer is then transferred to a second portion of the pumped oxidizer to convert the second portion of the oxidizer to a super-heated gaseous oxidizer. The super-heated gaseous oxidizer operates a motor, which drives the oxidizer pump and/or the fuel pump.
Claims30
A propulsion system comprising:
- a rocket engine having a combustion chamber for combustion of a fuel and a first portion of an oxidizer flow, and at least one heat exchanger between the heat of combustion generated by the combustion chamber and a second portion of the oxidizer flow;
- an oxidizer supply;
- an oxidizer pump configured to fluidically couple the oxidizer supply to the combustion chamber and to the heat exchanger;
- a motor disposed downstream of the heat exchanger, an inlet of the motor being fluidically coupled to the heat exchanger, wherein the motor is configured to drive the oxidizer pump;
- and
- a flow coupling device configured to divide the oxidizer flow pumped from the oxidizer pump into a first flow path that passes from the flow coupling device to the combustion chamber, and a separate second flow path that passes from the flow coupling device through the heat exchanger and to the motor, the first portion of the oxidizer flow passing through the first flow path and the second portion through the second flow path.
A method of driving any one of a fuel pump and an oxidizer pump in a propulsion system, the method comprising:
- pumping an oxidizer from an oxidizer supply with the oxidizer pump;
- dividing the pumped oxidizer from the oxidizer pump into first and second separate flow paths;
- passing a first portion of the oxidizer through the first flow path to the combustion chamber;
- combusting the first portion of the oxidizer in the rocket engine;
- passing a second portion of the oxidizer through the second flow path to a heat exchanger;
- transferring heat from the combustion of the first portion of the oxidizer to the second portion of the pumped oxidizer to convert the second portion of the oxidizer to a super-heated gaseous oxidizer;
- operating a motor with the super-heated gaseous oxidizer;
- and
- driving the oxidizer pump with the motor.
A method of operating an oxidizer pump in a propulsion system having an oxidizer supply and a rocket engine, the method comprising:
- pumping the oxidizer with the oxidizer pump;
- dividing the pumped oxidizer from the oxidizer pump into first and second separate portions, the first portion being larger than the second portion;
- passing the first portion of the oxidizer to the rocket engine for combustion;
- heating the second portion of the oxidizer by a heat of combustion from the rocket engine, the heating converting the second portion of the oxidizer into a super-heated gaseous oxidizer;
- operating a motor with the super-heated gaseous oxidizer;
- and
- driving the oxidizer pump with the motor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.