Extruded liquid rocket manufactured on the basis of existing industrial systems

Abstract

This invention discloses a squeeze-type liquid rocket manufactured based on existing industrial systems, comprising: a liquid nitrogen tank, a fuel tank, a liquid oxygen tank, a cryogenic electric pump, a vaporization heating coil, and a thrust chamber. A small portion of the liquid nitrogen is pressurized by the cryogenic electric pump through one of the pipelines and vaporized into high-pressure nitrogen gas in an independently pressurized liquid nitrogen tank via the vaporization heating coil. The majority of the liquid nitrogen is converted into ultra-high-pressure nitrogen gas after heat exchange through a regeneration cooling channel. This ultra-high-pressure nitrogen gas enables the high thrust output of the squeeze-type rocket. The cryogenic electric pump only needs to pressurize a small portion of the liquid nitrogen, and the high-pressure nitrogen gas bears the vast majority of the pressurization load. The cryogenic electric pump only needs to pressurize the base pressure. The rated pressure of the cryogenic electric pump is 1-5 MPa, which can meet the working requirements. This allows mass-produced cryogenic centrifugal pumps or cryogenic plunger pumps for civilian industrial use to fully meet the requirements in terms of load, medium, operating conditions, and structure. At the same time, it has the advantages of low cost, fast mass production, and convenient maintenance, and can achieve frequent test runs and multiple launches.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention specifically relates to a squeeze-type liquid rocket. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, launch vehicles are divided into two main types: solid fuel and liquid fuel. Solid fuel rockets have the disadvantages of high cost and low payload capacity.

[0003] Liquid rockets mostly require complex turbopumps to pressurize the fuel, resulting in drawbacks such as complex structure, low reliability, and high cost. For example, invention patent CN2021112515598 discloses an open-stage combustion exhaust cycle first-stage rocket engine, in which the turbine is driven by fuel-rich gas drawn from the upper chamber of the thrust chamber, and the thrust chamber adopts a staged combustion mode with fuel-rich upper chamber and supplementary combustion in lower chamber. This scheme still has the following inherent defects.

[0004] ① The existing technology uses the same pump body to pump fuel and oxidant at the same time. The pump chambers are isolated only by dynamic seals. Under high-speed rotation, the seals are prone to wear and failure, resulting in fuel and oxidant leakage and premixing, which can cause catastrophic safety accidents such as spontaneous combustion, deflagration, and pump body explosion.

[0005] ② The existing technology uses a gunpowder starter or a high-pressure gas cylinder starter, which increases the complexity of the rocket engine structure. The high-pressure gas cylinder with high pressure and thick walls reduces the rocket's carrying efficiency.

[0006] ③ This turbopump is driven by the upper chamber of the thrust chamber rich in fuel (equivalent to a burner or pre-combustion chamber), which has a complex structure. In addition, the high temperature rich fuel not only causes thermal damage to the turbine, but its exhaust is also easy to mix with the outside air and burn, causing accidental deflagration.

[0007] ④ Turbo pumps are used directly to pressurize liquid propellants, which can easily lead to poor impeller pump operation and oxygen pumps being more easily oxidized, which in turn can cause damage to the turbo pump.

[0008] ⑤ This turbopump needs to have a large suction force to meet the "large thrust" requirement. Therefore, it is necessary to independently develop a suitable aerospace-grade turbopump. The research and development and manufacturing cost of this turbopump is as high as tens of millions, which cannot meet the needs of modern satellite delivery capabilities. The expensive research and development and manufacturing cost makes it impossible to use the aerospace-grade turbopump for frequent routine testing.

[0009] Although squeeze-type liquid rockets have the advantages of low cost and simple and reliable structure, the need to pressurize the liquid fuel tank as a whole requires the tank structure to withstand very high internal pressure, and the upper limit of the internal pressure of the tank reduces the rocket's carrying capacity. ① The increased thickness and weight of the storage tank structure; ② The engine combustion chamber pressure is significantly lower than that of the turbopump-based design, resulting in a substantial decrease in the engine's specific impulse and an inability to achieve high thrust output; ③ The weight requirement of the gas used for pressurization in the storage tank is much greater than that of a pump-fed engine, resulting in increased exhaust weight during flight.

[0010] The above-mentioned drawbacks have led to the fact that squeeze engines are not the mainstream solution in current rocket design, and are only used in a few final-stage rockets that perform spaceflight missions.

[0011] With the rapid development of the commercial space industry, the market has put forward core requirements for industrial-grade high-thrust liquid rockets: "low cost, high reliability, mass production capability, and strong adaptability." These requirements necessitate the high thrust advantages of turbopump rockets while maintaining the structural simplicity of extrusion rockets; they also demand that core components be sourced or manufactured through the civilian supply chain while meeting aerospace-grade operational reliability. However, existing turbopump and extrusion rocket solutions cannot simultaneously meet these requirements, leaving a significant technological gap: a liquid rocket propulsion system that requires no independent propellant pump, is adaptable to civilian-grade components, and combines high thrust with lightweight design is lacking. Summary of the Invention

[0012] To overcome the shortcomings mentioned above, the present invention aims to provide a technical solution that can solve the above problems.

[0013] A squeeze-type liquid rocket manufactured based on the existing industrial system includes: a liquid nitrogen tank, a fuel tank, a liquid oxygen tank, a cryogenic electric pump, a vaporization heating coil, and a thrust chamber; The bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid nitrogen tank is connected to the suction end of the cryogenic electric pump and the regeneration cooling channel inside the thrust chamber pipe wall through pipelines respectively; the output end of the cryogenic electric pump is connected to one end of the vaporization heating coil, and the other end of the vaporization heating coil is connected to the top pressurization port of the liquid nitrogen tank, forming a closed nitrogen self-generating pressurization circulation loop. The bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid nitrogen tank is also connected to the regenerative cooling channel inside the thrust chamber via a pipeline. The outlet of the regenerative cooling channel is connected to the top pressurization port of the fuel tank and the top pressurization port of the liquid oxygen tank via pipelines. The bottom liquid phase outlet of the fuel tank is connected to the fuel inlet of the thrust chamber via a pipeline. The bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid oxygen tank is connected to the liquid oxygen inlet of the thrust chamber via a pipeline. Preferably, the bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid nitrogen tank, the bottom liquid phase outlet of the fuel tank, and the bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid oxygen tank are each equipped with an independent flow sensor and a flow control valve; the top pressurization port of the liquid nitrogen tank, the top pressurization port of the fuel tank, and the top pressurization port of the liquid oxygen tank are equipped with pressure regulating valves, which can individually adjust the pressure of the gas pillow inside each tank. Preferably, independent pressure sensors are installed in the fuel tank, the liquid oxygen tank, and the liquid nitrogen tank respectively, which can monitor the pressure of the gas pillow inside each tank in real time; Preferably, the liquid nitrogen tank, the fuel tank, and the liquid oxygen tank are conventional medium- and low-pressure resistant tanks; Preferably, the cryogenic electric pump is a civilian industrial mass-produced cryogenic centrifugal pump or a cryogenic plunger pump, and its pump body, impeller, and inlet / outlet connectors are all made of low-temperature resistant austenitic stainless steel, and its sealing components are made of polytetrafluoroethylene cryogenic sealing material. Preferably, the output end of the cryogenic electric pump is equipped with a one-way check valve, which prevents the vaporized high-pressure nitrogen from flowing back into the pump chamber.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are: A small portion of the liquid nitrogen is pressurized by a cryogenic electric pump through one of the pipelines and vaporized into high-pressure nitrogen in an independent pressurized liquid nitrogen storage tank via a vaporization heating coil. The majority of the liquid nitrogen, which already has a pressure of 10 MPa, is converted into ultra-high-pressure nitrogen after heat exchange in a regeneration cooling channel. This ultra-high-pressure nitrogen enables the high thrust output of the compression rocket. The cryogenic electric pump only needs to pressurize a small portion of the pressurized liquid nitrogen, and the high-pressure nitrogen formed by the vaporization heating coil bears the vast majority of the pressurization load. The cryogenic electric pump only needs to pressurize the base pressure, reducing the performance requirements of the cryogenic electric pump. The rated pressure of this cryogenic electric pump is sufficient to meet the working requirements, making it possible for civilian industrial mass-produced cryogenic centrifugal pumps or cryogenic plunger pumps to fully meet the requirements in terms of load, medium, operating conditions, and structure. At the same time, it has the advantages of low cost, fast mass production, and convenient maintenance. Therefore, there is no need to specially develop expensive aerospace-grade pump bodies, which can achieve frequent testing and multiple launches.

[0015] Since the fuel and liquid oxygen are directly squeezed into the thrust chamber without passing through a dynamic sealing structure (such as the dynamic seal of a traditional turbopump), the structure of this invention has no risk of propellant leakage.

[0016] Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the working principle of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] In the description of this invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this invention.

[0022] Furthermore, in the description of this invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to a connection within two components; and they can refer to a wireless connection or a wired connection. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention based on the specific circumstances.

[0023] Furthermore, the technical features involved in the different embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0024] Please see Figures 1-2 In this embodiment of the invention, a squeeze-type liquid rocket manufactured based on the existing industrial system includes: a liquid nitrogen tank 1, a fuel tank 2, a liquid oxygen tank 3, a cryogenic electric pump 4, a vaporization heating coil 5, and a thrust chamber 6.

[0025] Liquid nitrogen tank 1, fuel tank 2, and liquid oxygen tank 3 are conventional medium- and low-pressure resistant tanks. Independent pressure sensors are installed inside fuel tank 2, liquid oxygen tank 3, and liquid nitrogen tank 1 to monitor the internal pressure of the gas cushion in each tank in real time. The three tanks are arranged coaxially from top to bottom, with liquid nitrogen tank 1 at the top, fuel tank 2 in the middle, and liquid oxygen tank 3 at the bottom. The tanks are rigidly connected by flange supports, and their axes coincide with the rocket body axis to ensure gravity-assisted propellant delivery.

[0026] The bottom liquid phase outlet of liquid nitrogen tank 1 is connected via pipelines to the suction end of cryogenic electric pump 4 and the regeneration cooling channel 60 inside the thrust chamber 6. The output end of cryogenic electric pump 4 is connected to one end of vaporization heating coil 5, and the other end of vaporization heating coil 5 is connected to the top pressurization port of liquid nitrogen tank 1. The outlet of regeneration cooling channel 60 is connected via pipelines to the top pressurization port of fuel tank 2 and the top pressurization port of liquid oxygen tank 3, respectively. The bottom liquid phase outlet of fuel tank 2 is connected via pipelines to the fuel inlet of thrust chamber 6, and the bottom liquid phase outlet of liquid oxygen tank 3 is connected via pipelines to the liquid oxygen inlet of thrust chamber 6.

[0027] A small portion of liquid nitrogen is pressurized by the cryogenic electric pump 4 through a pipeline. When this small portion of liquid nitrogen flows through the vaporization heating coil 5, it is rapidly heated and vaporized into high-pressure nitrogen gas with a pressure of 8-10 MPa. The high-pressure nitrogen gas flows back to the air cushion space at the top of the liquid nitrogen storage tank 1 and begins to compress the liquid nitrogen storage tank 1. The compressed liquid nitrogen also has high pressure and flows out from the liquid phase outlet at the bottom of the liquid nitrogen storage tank 1. A small portion of the liquid nitrogen is then drawn in by the cryogenic electric pump 4. The expansion force of the high-pressure nitrogen gas and the pressure boosting force of the cryogenic electric pump 4 are superimposed to form a closed-loop nitrogen gas self-pressurization circulation loop. Most of the liquid nitrogen has a pressure of 8-10 MPa. It enters the regeneration cooling channel 60 through another pipeline. After being vaporized by the heat drawn from the outer wall of the thrust chamber, it forms ultra-high pressure nitrogen gas (more than 20 MPa). The pressure inside the thrust chamber is usually 15-20 MPa. When the pressure of this ultra-high pressure nitrogen gas is greater than the pressure inside the thrust chamber, the propellant is squeezed by the ultra-high pressure nitrogen gas. The two propellants enter the thrust chamber in large flow rates to mix and burn, achieving high thrust delivery. It is fully compatible with mainstream first-stage rockets.

[0028] Traditional turbopump rockets rely on the pump itself for high-pressure boosting, typically requiring an output pressure exceeding 20 MPa. In this design, the primary boosting pressure of 8-10 MPa comes from the compression of high-pressure nitrogen. The cryogenic electric pump 4 only provides auxiliary suction (requiring less than 30% of the suction required by a traditional turbopump) to propel liquid nitrogen through the circulation loop and compensate for circulation losses. Commercially available cryogenic centrifugal pumps have rated operating pressures of 5-10 MPa, fully covering the requirements of this design, and their pressure resistance is sufficiently redundant, eliminating the need for a dedicated pressure rating upgrade.

[0029] The bottom liquid phase outlets of liquid nitrogen tank 1, fuel tank 2, and liquid oxygen tank 3 are each equipped with independent flow sensors and flow control valves. The top pressurization ports of liquid nitrogen tank 1, fuel tank 2, and liquid oxygen tank 3 are equipped with pressure regulating valves, which can individually adjust the pressure of the gas pillow inside each tank.

[0030] During the pre-ignition startup phase of the rocket, such as Figure 2As shown, the flow control valves at the bottom liquid phase outlets of liquid nitrogen tank 1, fuel tank 2, and liquid oxygen tank 3 are opened respectively. The cryogenic electric pump 4 is started to draw in a portion of the liquid nitrogen flowing out of liquid nitrogen tank 1. When the liquid nitrogen flows through the vaporization heating coil 5, the auxiliary electric heating wire is activated to rapidly heat and vaporize the liquid nitrogen into 8-10 MPa high-pressure nitrogen gas. The high-pressure nitrogen gas flows back through the pipeline to the air cushion space at the top of liquid nitrogen tank 1, forcefully compressing the liquid nitrogen inside liquid nitrogen tank 1; the compressed liquid nitrogen obtains 8-10 MPa... The high pressure flows out from the liquid phase outlet at the bottom of the liquid nitrogen storage tank 1. A portion of the liquid nitrogen is then drawn back into the vaporization heating coil 5 by the cryogenic electric pump 4, forming a closed-loop nitrogen self-pressurization circulation loop where the cryogenic electric pump 4 draws in and the high pressure is squeezed. At this time, the suction force of the cryogenic electric pump 4 and the squeezing force of the high pressure nitrogen work together to rapidly increase the liquid nitrogen flow rate in the circulation loop to 50 m³ / h, and the pressure of the gas pillow in the liquid nitrogen storage tank 1 is stabilized at 8-10 MPa.

[0031] Since the subsequent high-pressure nitrogen gas will compress the liquid nitrogen storage tank 1, the cryogenic electric pump 4 only needs to provide auxiliary suction force and does not need to bear the full pressurization load. Therefore, there is no need for super-strong pressurization and suction force, and a mass-produced cryogenic pump for civilian industrial use can meet the requirements. Compared with traditional aerospace-grade dedicated turbopumps or electric pumps, the cryogenic electric pump 4 of this invention can be directly purchased from the civilian supply chain or manufactured using a mature industrial system without independent research and development. This not only saves high R&D costs, but its procurement or manufacturing cost is also less than 1% of the manufacturing cost of aerospace-grade dedicated turbopumps. Moreover, the mass production cycle is short, enabling routine rocket testing.

[0032] While the liquid nitrogen tank 1, cryogenic electric pump 4, and vaporization heating coil 5 form a closed-loop nitrogen self-pressurization circulation loop, another part of high-pressure liquid nitrogen (pressure 8-10MPa) flowing out from the bottom of the liquid nitrogen tank 1 flows into the regeneration cooling channel 60 in the thrust chamber 6 through the pipeline, and is delivered to the gas pillow space at the top of the fuel tank 2 and the liquid oxygen tank 3 through branch pipelines, so that the fuel in the fuel tank 2 and the liquid oxygen in the liquid oxygen tank 3 are compressed. Under the control of the pressure regulating valve, the two propellants are simultaneously compressed into the thrust chamber 6, and after ignition and combustion, they generate thrust.

[0033] During the stable operation phase of the rocket, such as Figure 2 As shown, another portion of high-pressure liquid nitrogen flowing out from the bottom of the liquid nitrogen tank 1 is vaporized by heat exchange through the nozzle of the thrust chamber 6, continuously generating pressure far exceeding that inside the thrust chamber 6. This allows both propellants to be squeezed into the thrust chamber 6 by high-pressure nitrogen at a large flow rate, thereby enabling the rocket to obtain high thrust. This solves the technical problem of the traditional extrusion rocket engine having a significantly reduced specific impulse and being unable to achieve high thrust output.

[0034] In this embodiment, since the fuel and liquid oxygen are directly squeezed into the thrust chamber 6 without passing through a dynamic sealing structure (such as the dynamic seal of a turbopump), the structure of this invention has no risk of propellant leakage, completely solving the problem of catastrophic safety accidents such as fuel and oxidizer leakage, spontaneous combustion, deflagration, and pump body explosion caused by the wear and failure of dynamic seals in traditional turbopump rockets. At the same time, since there is no need for a turbopump, the thermal damage to the turbine caused by high-temperature rich gas is avoided, and the risk of accidental deflagration caused by the combustion of rich gas mixed with outside air is also eliminated.

[0035] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above, and that the invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the invention. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered in all respects as exemplary and non-limiting, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. Thus, it is intended that all variations falling within the meaning and scope of equivalents of the claims be included within the present invention.

Claims

1. A squeeze-type liquid rocket manufactured based on an existing industrial system, characterized in that, include: Liquid nitrogen storage tank, fuel storage tank, liquid oxygen storage tank, cryogenic electric pump, vaporization heating coil, thrust chamber; The bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid nitrogen tank is connected to the suction end of the cryogenic electric pump and the regeneration cooling channel inside the thrust chamber pipe wall through pipelines respectively; the output end of the cryogenic electric pump is connected to one end of the vaporization heating coil, and the other end of the vaporization heating coil is connected to the top pressurization port of the liquid nitrogen tank, forming a closed nitrogen self-generating pressurization circulation loop. The outlet of the regenerative cooling channel is connected to the top pressurization port of the fuel tank and the top pressurization port of the liquid oxygen tank via pipelines. The bottom liquid phase outlet of the fuel tank is connected to the fuel inlet of the thrust chamber via pipelines. The bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid oxygen tank is connected to the liquid oxygen inlet of the thrust chamber via pipelines.

2. The extrusion-type liquid rocket manufactured based on the existing industrial system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid nitrogen tank, the bottom liquid phase outlet of the fuel tank, and the bottom liquid phase outlet of the liquid oxygen tank are each equipped with an independent flow sensor and a flow control valve; the top pressurization port of the liquid nitrogen tank, the top pressurization port of the fuel tank, and the top pressurization port of the liquid oxygen tank are equipped with pressure regulating valves, which can individually adjust the pressure of the gas pillow inside each tank.

3. The extrusion-type liquid rocket manufactured based on the existing industrial system according to claim 2, characterized in that, Independent pressure sensors are installed in the fuel tank, the liquid oxygen tank, and the liquid nitrogen tank respectively, which can monitor the pressure of the gas pillow inside each tank in real time.

4. The extrusion-type liquid rocket manufactured based on the existing industrial system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The liquid nitrogen tank, the fuel tank, and the liquid oxygen tank are conventional medium- and low-pressure resistant tanks.

5. The extrusion-type liquid rocket manufactured based on the existing industrial system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cryogenic electric pump is a civilian industrial mass-produced cryogenic centrifugal pump or cryogenic plunger pump. Its pump body, impeller, and inlet / outlet connectors are all made of low-temperature resistant austenitic stainless steel, and its sealing components are made of polytetrafluoroethylene cryogenic sealing material.

6. The extrusion-type liquid rocket manufactured based on the existing industrial system according to claim 5, characterized in that, The output end of the cryogenic electric pump is equipped with a one-way check valve to prevent the vaporized high-pressure nitrogen from flowing back into the pump chamber.

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