Aerospike Engine Copper Alloy Additive Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Reusable launch vehicles face high development costs due to complex reentry and landing maneuvers, and existing rocket engines are inefficient in propellant use and prone to thermal issues, which affect their reusability and operational costs.
Innovation Solution
The development of an aerospike engine with a centerbody and external skirt made from copper alloys, featuring internal cooling channels and additive manufacturing for complex geometries, which uses liquid methane and oxygen for regenerative cooling, reducing thermal gradients and coking, and allows for independent cooling cycles and efficient propellant use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional bell nozzle design is used, then the engine structure is simple, but aerodynamic efficiency is lost at high altitudes
Solution Approach 1:
The aerospike nozzle changes its effective geometry by utilizing ambient pressure at different altitudes. At sea level, the spike is surrounded by high pressure air that contains the exhaust. At high altitude, lower ambient pressure allows the exhaust to expand more freely around the spike, automatically adapting the nozzle's effective shape without mechanical movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The aerospike acts as an intermediary structure that interacts with ambient atmospheric pressure to achieve altitude compensation. The spike itself doesn't move or change shape, but it mediates between the fixed nozzle geometry and the varying ambient pressure to maintain optimal expansion across different altitudes.
2Temperature
If regenerative cooling with single propellant is used, then cooling is provided, but propellant reaches high temperature causing coking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines two cooling circuits that use different propellants (liquid oxygen and liquid methane) to cool the same combustion chamber. This merging of cooling systems allows heat to be distributed and managed more effectively, preventing the excessive temperature rise that causes coking in single-propellant systems.
Solution Approach 2:
By introducing a second cooling propellant with different thermal properties, the system changes the temperature parameters throughout the combustion chamber. The dual-propellant cooling approach maintains lower temperatures in critical areas, preventing the thermal conditions that lead to coking while still providing adequate cooling.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If complex reentry and landing maneuvers are implemented, then reusability is achieved, but development cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The aerospike engine maintains efficient thrust across a wide range of ambient pressures, from sea level to high altitude. This allows the engine to operate effectively during both ascent and reentry/landing phases without requiring complex throttling or geometry changes, simplifying the maneuvering system while enabling reusability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration significantly reduces operational costs by minimizing propellant use and enhancing reusability through efficient cooling and thrust management, while maintaining aerodynamic efficiency across a wide range of altitudes.
Implementation Method 1
The centerbody is additively manufactured from one or more copper alloys and has a plurality of centerbody internal cooling channels, and the external skirt is additively manufactured from one or more copper alloys and has a plurality of skirt internal cooling channels. The aerospike engine is configured to supply liquid methane delivered from the liquid methane tank and liquid oxygen delivered from the liquid oxygen tank through the internal cooling channels to the combustion chamber.
Implementation Method 2
Copper alloys have a high thermal conductivity, thus avoiding thermal gradients and accompanying deformation e.g. warping and local plasticity
Implementation Method 3
a combustion chamber being defined between the external skirt and the centerbody... supply liquid methane delivered from the liquid methane tank and liquid oxygen delivered from the liquid oxygen tank through the internal cooling channels to the combustion chamber
Data Source
Figure 1A~1D
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
An aerospike engine configured to be connected to a liquid methane tank, and to a liquid oxygen tank is provided. The aerospike engine comprises a centerbody including an aerospike nozzle, an external skirt, and a combustion chamber being defined between the external skirt and the centerbody. The centerbody is additively manufactured from one or more copper alloys and has a plurality of centerbody internal cooling channels. The external skirt is additively manufactured from one or more copper alloys and has a plurality of skirt internal cooling channels. The aerospike engine is configured to supply liquid methane and liquid oxygen through the internal cooling channels to the combustion chamber. Also disclosed are stages of a launch vehicle and a launch vehicle comprising such an aerospike engine, as well as methods for re-entry for a re-usable stage of a launch vehicle comprising an aerospike engine.