Launch Vehicle Electrical Heater for High-Velocity Propellant Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current space launch technologies, such as rocket propulsion, are expensive, dangerous, and inefficient, with high costs and low payload fractions due to reliance on chemical rockets and multiple stages, while alternative technologies like electromagnetic guns face challenges with plasma armature instabilities and excessive acceleration forces.
Innovation Solution
A launch system utilizing a low atomic weight propellant heated by electrical energy within a launch tube to achieve high velocities with minimal magnetic fields, using a resistive or arc heater to generate a high thrust-to-weight electric rocket thruster with a single stage, allowing for efficient acceleration of payloads to orbital and escape velocities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional rocket propulsion is used, then payloads can be launched into space, but the cost is extremely high ($2,000 to $10,000 per kilogram) and the process is dangerous
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces chemical combustion engines with electromagnetic propulsion systems (coilgun and railgun mechanisms) to accelerate payloads. This substitution eliminates the need for dangerous chemical fuels and explosions while providing precise electronic control over acceleration, thereby improving safety and potentially reducing costs through more efficient energy utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs multi-stage acceleration where the payload is accelerated in increments through multiple electromagnetic stages rather than a single high-energy event. This parameter change in acceleration profile allows for better control, reduced peak stresses, and more efficient energy distribution, addressing both safety and cost concerns.
2Use of energy by moving object
If electromagnetic guns are used to accelerate payloads, then launch cost may be reduced, but plasma armature instabilities occur above velocities of 2,000 to 4,000 m/s causing energy dissipation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the acceleration process into multiple discrete electromagnetic stages (coilgun stages followed by railgun stages) rather than using a single continuous electromagnetic acceleration. This segmentation allows each stage to operate within stable velocity ranges, avoiding the plasma armature instability threshold while collectively achieving high final velocities.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-stage electromagnetic acceleration system operates in periodic pulses, with each stage accelerating the payload through a controlled velocity range before transitioning to the next stage. This periodic action allows the system to maintain stability at each stage while progressively building up to high velocities without encountering continuous plasma instabilities.
3Speed
If gun launch systems are used to achieve high velocities, then acceleration to orbital velocity is faster, but excessively great acceleration forces (tens of thousands of G's) are imposed on the payload
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the total velocity gain into multiple smaller acceleration stages, each contributing a portion of the final velocity. This segmentation distributes the acceleration forces across time and multiple events, preventing any single stage from imposing excessive G-forces on the payload while still achieving high final velocities through cumulative acceleration.
Solution Approach 2:
The electromagnetic propulsion system allows for dynamic adjustment of acceleration profiles at each stage. The system can optimize the acceleration magnitude and duration of each stage to balance velocity gain with payload tolerance, adjusting parameters in real-time based on payload characteristics and mission requirements to avoid excessive forces.
4Adaptability or versatility
If thermal gun systems are used, then alternative propulsion is provided, but the system is limited by the sound speed of the propelling gas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces thermal propulsion mechanisms (which are fundamentally limited by the speed of sound in the propellant gas) with electromagnetic propulsion systems. The electromagnetic fields directly accelerate the payload without relying on thermal expansion of gas, thereby eliminating the sound speed barrier and enabling velocities significantly higher than what thermal systems can achieve.
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 approach enables low-cost, reliable, and efficient launch with high payload fractions, reducing the need for multiple stages and minimizing magnetic field-induced energy losses, achieving velocities up to 50,000 m/sec with a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than 10:1.
Implementation Method 1
an electrical heater in fluid connection with the propellant tank and adapted for electrical heating of the propellant to form an exiting exhaust
Implementation Method 2
an expansion nozzle in fluid communication with the exiting exhaust from the electrical heater
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a launch system, a launch vehicle for use with the launch system, and methods of launching a payload utilizing the launch vehicle and/or the launch system. The disclosure can provide for delivery of the payload at a terrestrial location, an Earth orbital location, or an extraorbital location. The launch vehicle can comprise a payload, a propellant tank, an electrical heater wherein propellant, such as a light gas (e.g., hydrogen) is electrically heated to significantly high temperatures, and an exhaust nozzle from which the heated propellant expands to provide an exhaust velocity of, for example, 7-16 km/sec. The launch vehicle can be utilized with the launch system, which can further comprise a launch tube formed of at least one tube, which can be electrically conductive and which can be combined with at least one insulator tube. An electrical energy source, such as a battery bank and associated inductor, can be provided.