Design and experimental research of a sub-Newton N_(2)O monopropellant thruster with inner-heater

作     者：Kaiyang LI Jie FANG Wei SUN Bing SUN Guobiao CAI Kaiyang LI;Jie FANG;Wei SUN;Bing SUN;Guobiao CAI

作者机构：School of AstronauticsBeihang UniversityBeijing 100083China Key Laboratory of Spacecraft Design Optimization and Dynamic Simulation Technologies of Ministry of EducationBeihang UniversityBeijing 100083China China Academy of Space TechnologyBeijing 100094China 

出 版 物：《Chinese Journal of Aeronautics》 (中国航空学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2022年第35卷第5期

页      面：309-318页

核心收录：

学科分类：080703[工学-动力机械及工程] 08[工学] 0807[工学-动力工程及工程热物理] 0703[理学-化学] 

主　　题：Green propellant Monopropellant thruster Nitrous oxide Regenerative heat compensation Self-pressurization 

摘      要：Nitrous oxide(N_(2)O)is a green propellant with excellent application prospects.A subNewton N_(2)O monopropellant thruster with inner-heater and a N_(2)O self-pressurization stable supply system with regenerative heat compensation are designed in this paper.The experimental research of the thruster is described,including measurements of preheating power,activation temperature,vacuum thrust,specific impulse,life-span and pulsed operation performance.By inserting the heater into the catalyst-bed,preheating efficiency of the heater is significantly improved compared to the thruster with outer-heater.Thus,the preheating power demand of the thruster is successfully reduced to around 10 W.The mean vacuum thrust of 322 mN is attained and the corresponding specific impulse reaches 162s at the mass flow rate of 0.2 g/s.Successful activation temperature of 523 K is achieved,and the activation performance of the thruster is affected by the loading factor.A long term hot-firing test longer than 12000 s is attained.The pulsed operation performance of the inner-preheating thruster is also studied by measuring chamber pressure.Impulses with different magnitudes are produced by adjusting the opening duration of the control valve.A minimum impulse of 81 mN·s is attained.Finally,the performance of the thruster is evaluated by comparison with other thrusters of the same type.The results indicate that the proposed thruster with inner-heater is superior in terms of preheating power,activation temperature and specific impulse performance.