Rocket Combustor Metal-Wire Sealing for Regenerative Cooling Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for manufacturing regeneratively cooled rocket engine combustors are labor-intensive and costly, requiring large-scale equipment and multiple processes, with issues of cooling fluid leakage due to inadequate bonding and contamination.
Innovation Solution
A combustor design featuring a metal inner cylinder with a cooling fluid flow path sealed by metallurgical bonding of metal wires wound around the outer surface, which are diffusion-bonded or brazed to form a reliable sealing layer without the need for large-scale equipment, reducing manufacturing complexity and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the cooling fluid flow path is sealed by plating the outer surface of the inner wall material, then the flow path is sealed, but the process becomes very labor-intensive and requires several critical operations including wax filling, silver powder polishing, hydrogen barrier plating, and nickel plating
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the complex intermediate processes (wax filling, silver powder polishing, hydrogen barrier plating) from the sealing process, retaining only the essential nickel plating step that actually provides the sealing function. This simplifies the manufacturing process while maintaining sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of preparing the surface through multiple intermediate steps before plating, the invention inverts the approach by directly applying nickel plating to the mechanically cut groove, eliminating the need for wax filling and silver powder polishing that traditionally preceded plating.
2Reliability
If multiple plating processes and intermediate machining processes are used to seal the cooling fluid flow path, then sealing is achieved, but the manufacturing time and labor increase significantly resulting in high manufacturing costs
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes unnecessary intermediate processes (wax filling, silver powder polishing, hydrogen barrier plating) from the manufacturing sequence, keeping only the essential nickel plating step. This extraction of redundant operations significantly reduces manufacturing time and labor while preserving the sealing function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention skips the traditional multi-step preparation and plating sequence, rushing directly to the essential nickel plating step that provides sealing. This skipping of intermediate steps accelerates production without compromising sealing reliability.
3Reliability
If the cooling fluid flow path is sealed by plating, then sealing is achieved, but residual wax material must be removed by machining following plating completion, adding more time and labor
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the wax filling step entirely from the process sequence. By removing wax filling, there is no residual wax material to remove later, eliminating the post-plating machining operation and reducing total manufacturing cycle time.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention performs preliminary mechanical cutting to create the groove directly, eliminating the need for subsequent wax filling and removal operations. This preliminary action of creating the groove without wax preparation avoids the need for post-plating wax removal machining.
4Reliability
If conventional plating methods are used to seal the cooling fluid flow path, then sealing is achieved, but contamination reduces the bonding strength of the plated material requiring rework at considerable frequency
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the silver powder polishing step that traditionally prepared the surface for plating. By removing this intermediate preparation step and directly plating the mechanically cut groove, the invention reduces contamination opportunities while maintaining adequate bonding quality through direct nickel plating.
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
The solution provides a reliable sealing of the cooling fluid flow path, minimizing leakage and reducing manufacturing costs by simplifying the process and eliminating the need for extensive equipment, while ensuring high reliability and efficiency in sealing the cooling fluid path.
Implementation Method 1
heating the inner cylinder, around which the metal wires are wound, to a temperature equal to or higher than a diffusion temperature of the metal wires to diffusion-bond the metal wires to each other and diffusion-bond the metal wires and the inner cylinder
Implementation Method 2
heating the inner cylinder, around which the metal wires are wound, to a temperature equal to or higher than a melting temperature of the solder material to braze the metal wires to each other and braze the metal wires and the inner cylinder
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure provides a combustor (4) which can be manufactured without requiring large-scale equipment and with a small number of processes and has a cooling fluid flow path (14) sealed with high reliability. The combustor (4) comprises an inner cylinder (12) made of metal constituting a combustion chamber (10), a cooling fluid flow path (14) formed on an outer surface of the inner cylinder (12), and a sealing layer (16) covering the outer surface of the inner cylinder (12) to seal the cooling fluid flow path (14). The sealing layer (14) is constituted by a bonded body of metal wires (30) wound around the outer surface of the inner cylinder (12) and metallurgically bonded to each other, and the sealing layer (16) is bonded to the outer surface of the inner cylinder (12) by metallurgical bonding.