Warm Gas Thruster Valve Sealing Through Upstream Gas Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing thruster systems struggle to provide precise, small impulse bits due to the inability to effectively control the flow of high-temperature gases, leading to potential leaks and inefficiencies in auxiliary thruster operations.
Innovation Solution
A thruster system with a heat exchanger to cool propellant gases below a threshold temperature, using a soft material seal in the control valve to ensure leak-free operation and precise impulse control, facilitated by a phase change material heat sink like indium.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a soft material seal is used in the control valve, then sealing performance and leak prevention are improved, but the seal material degrades or fails when exposed to high temperature gas above the threshold temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger is positioned upstream of the control valve to cool the decomposed gas before it reaches the valve. This preliminary cooling action ensures that the gas temperature is reduced below the threshold temperature of the soft material seal before the seal is exposed to the gas, preventing seal degradation while maintaining reliable sealing performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchanger acts as an intermediary component between the gas source (catalyst bed) and the control valve. It mediates the thermal interaction by removing heat from the gas, thereby protecting the soft material seal in the control valve from direct exposure to high temperature gas that would otherwise cause seal failure.
2Reliability
If the gas is cooled to below threshold temperature, then soft material seal reliability is improved, but the system complexity increases due to the addition of a heat exchanger
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger serves multiple functions within the system: it cools the decomposed gas to protect the soft material seal, and it enables the use of soft material seals which provide superior sealing performance. By consolidating these requirements into a single component, the overall system complexity is managed while achieving reliable valve operation.
3Measurement precision
If precise impulse control is achieved through soft material seals, then micro-impulse precision is improved, but the control valve must operate at temperatures below the seal material's maximum use temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger performs preliminary cooling of the decomposed gas before it reaches the control valve. This ensures that the gas temperature is already below the maximum use temperature of the soft material seal when it enters the valve, enabling the seal to maintain its precise impulse control capabilities without thermal degradation.
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
Enables precise, leak-free control of thruster impulses less than 100 µlbf-sec, enhancing the ability of auxiliary thrusters to perform fine movements with improved efficiency and reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a heat exchanger connected with the plenum. The heat exchanger is configured to cool the gas to a temperature below a threshold temperature
Implementation Method 2
a catalyst bed connected with the tank and operable to decompose the liquid propellant and generate a gas
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A thruster system (20) includes a tank (24) for holding liquid propellant, a catalyst bed (26) connected with the tank (24) and operable to decompose the liquid propellant and generate a gas, a plenum (28) connected with the catalyst bed (26) for receiving the gas, a heat exchanger (30) connected with the plenum (28) to cool the gas to a temperature below a threshold temperature and thereby generate a cooled gas, at least one thruster (32) connected with the heat exchanger (30) to receive the cooled gas, and at least one control valve (34) between the heat exchanger (30) and the at least one thruster (32) controlling flow of the cooled gas to the thruster (32). At least one control valve (34) includes a soft material valve seal (36).