Rocket Combustor Wire-Bonded Cooling Channel Sealing
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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, using diffusion bonding or brazing to create 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 electroforming plating, then the flow path is sealed, but the process is labor-intensive and requires multiple 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, multiple plating steps) from the manufacturing sequence, retaining only the essential groove formation and final plating operation. This reduces the manufacturing process from multiple critical operations to a simplified two-step process while maintaining sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The groove is formed by mechanical cutting before the plating process, creating a pre-prepared structure that guides the plating material. This preliminary action ensures that the plating material naturally fills and seals the groove without requiring wax filling or multiple intermediate plating steps, thereby simplifying the overall process.
2Reliability
If multiple plating processes are used to seal the cooling fluid flow path, then sealing is achieved, but manufacturing time and labor increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes unnecessary intermediate plating processes (hydrogen barrier plating, nickel plating) from the manufacturing sequence, keeping only the essential plating step that achieves sealing. This extraction of redundant operations directly improves manufacturing efficiency while preserving the sealing function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention skips the traditional multi-stage plating sequence by using a single plating operation with plating material that has appropriate adhesion properties. This allows the process to rush through to completion in one step rather than progressing through multiple sequential plating stages, significantly reducing manufacturing time.
3Reliability
If wax material is used to fill the cooling fluid flow path during plating, then the flow path is sealed, but wax removal is required after plating completion adding time and labor
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the wax filling step from the manufacturing process entirely. Instead of using wax as a temporary filler, the groove is directly plated with plating material that provides permanent sealing, removing the need for subsequent wax removal operations and reducing total manufacturing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the temporary wax filler with a permanent plating material that serves both as the sealing mechanism and the final structure. This eliminates the need for temporary materials that require removal, as the plating material itself provides the durable, permanent seal needed for the cooling fluid flow path.
4Ease of manufacture
If mechanical cutting is used to form the groove, then the cooling fluid flow path is created, but the outer surface requires additional polishing to be conductive for plating
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the silver powder polishing step from the manufacturing sequence. The mechanical cutting process is optimized to create a groove surface that is sufficiently conductive for direct plating, removing the need for additional surface preparation operations while maintaining ease of manufacture.
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 effectively seals the cooling fluid flow path with high reliability, minimizing leakage and manufacturing costs by simplifying the process and eliminating the need for expensive equipment, while maintaining the structural integrity under high-pressure conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a sealing layer covering the outer surface of the inner cylinder to seal the cooling fluid flow path, wherein the sealing layer is constituted by a bonded body being bonded by metallurgical bonding of metal wires wound around the outer surface of the inner cylinder
Implementation Method 2
using diffusion bonding or brazing to create a reliable sealing layer
Data Source
AI summary
A combustor which can be manufactured without requiring large-scale equipment and with a small number of processes and has a cooling fluid flow path sealed with high reliability. The combustor includes an inner cylinder made of metal constituting a combustion chamber, a cooling fluid flow path formed on an outer surface of the inner cylinder, and a sealing layer covering the outer surface of the inner cylinder to seal the cooling fluid flow path. The sealing layer is constituted by a bonded body of metal wires wound around the outer surface of the inner cylinder and metallurgically bonded to each other, and the sealing layer is bonded to the outer surface of the inner cylinder by metallurgical bonding.