Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster Research Articles

Effect of Spherical Silver Particles Size of the Catalyst Bed on Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster Performance

Effect of Spherical Silver Particles Size of the Catalyst Bed on Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster Performance

The Experimental Investigation of a 98% Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster Comprising the Metal-Foam-Supported Manganese Oxide Catalyst

The article presents alternative metal-supported catalysts for decomposition of the highest-class hydrogen peroxide: 98%+ (Type 98 HP, according to MIL-PRF-16005F). The aim of this study was the experimental investigation of an alternative solution for decomposition of 98%+ hydrogen peroxide, strictly for chemical propulsion. High-porosity open cell metal foams have been identified as structures with great potential. Low density, good mechanical and thermal properties, availability of various materials and alloys as well as new technologies of manufacturing, make metal foam a potential solution for many different propellants, not only hydrogen peroxide. Open cell NiCrAl foam has been processed to prepare several catalysts, with different content and dispersion of the active phase. Cleaning and drying were performed to prepare carriers for further processing: wet impregnation, slow drying, and calcination. Simple drop tests with 98% hydrogen peroxide have been conducted to estimate activity level of catalysts, in a simplified scale: low, medium, high. Then, real-environment tests have been performed in a catalyst bed. Temperature, pressure along the bed and propellant mass flow rate were measured while testing. The analysis of the test results provided a general conclusion that metal foam supported manganese oxide catalyst is a promising solution for hydrogen peroxide propulsion.

Endurance characteristic affected by pressure drop across catalyst bed of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

Endurance characteristic affected by pressure drop across catalyst bed of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

Optimization of 10 N Monopropellant High Test Peroxide Thruster for Space Applications

Monopropellant thruster is one of the most propulsion system types developed in the space industry. This system uses a single type of propellant that reacts in porous medium catalytic packed bed to generate thrust in the form of hot gases. The last decade, green propellant hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), also known as High Test Peroxide (HTP), thanks to its low cost and easy to store as liquid, is used as an alternative solution of hydrazine which is very toxic and not environmentally friendly. In the current study, hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster is investigated for application in the future satellites. A numerical simulation is performed using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS Fluent in order to simulate fluid flow of hydrogen peroxide in thruster, and the finite volume method was employed for resolving the governing equation. Species transport model is applied in the single-phase reaction simulation using the Eddy Dissipation model (EDM) for turbulence-chemistry interaction. A mathematical approach based on the local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) model is used to describe the heat transfer through solid and fluid phases in the packed bed consisting of identical spherical silver particles. Several simulations performed allowed an optimal design of the injector, catalyst bed length and diameter and nozzle geometry, to achieve a 10N monopropellant thruster with hydrogen peroxide at 87.5% concentration.

Porosity Effect of the Silver Catalyst in Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster

In monopropellant system, hydrogen peroxide is used with catalyst to create an exothermic reaction. Catalyst made of silver among the popular choice for this application. Since the catalyst used is in porous state, the effect of its porosity in the hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster performances is yet unknown. The porosity changes depending on factors including catalyst pact compaction pressure, bed dimension, and type of catalyst used. As researches on this topic is relatively small, the optimum porosity value is usually left out. The performance of the thruster indicated by the pressure drop across the catalyst bed. Porosity of the catalyst bed adds additional momentum sink to the momentum equation that contributes to the pressure gradient which lead to pressure loss inside thruster. The effect of porosity influences the performance and precision of the thruster. Study of the pressure drop by the catalyst bed requires a lengthy period and expensive experiments, however, numerical simulation by mean of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be an alternative. In this paper, 90 wt% hydrogen peroxide solution with silver catalyst is studied in order to investigate the influence of porosity to the performances of the thruster, and to find the optimum porosity of the thruster. Species transport model is applied in the single-phase reaction simulation using the EDM for turbulence-chemistry interaction. Through this study, the effect of porosity towards the thruster performances represented in term of pressure drop, exit velocity, bed temperature, and thrust, and porosity of 0.4 found to be as an optimal value.

Design, test and build of a monopropellant thruster using 85% hydrogen peroxide

The objective of this research is to design, build, and test about a 5N Hydrogen Peroxide(H2O2) monopropellant thruster (MPT). It is utilized in remote sensing satellites for attitude control and orbit manoeuvres. The MPT uses high test peroxide (HTP) of 85 % concentration. Firstly, H2O2 ≈85% concertation by weight is prepared in the laboratory. A distillation and filtration units are built. The distillation and filtration processes are performed. Next, the design of the monopropellant thruster is done based on the developed mathematical model using NASA CEA rocket performance code. The test facility is developed which consists of the thruster, the feeding system, static test stand and data acquisition system with measuring sensors. An experimental test stand is designed and fabricated with Pendulum thrust mechanism for measurements of thrust. Finally, the silver catalyst is prepared and packed inside the MPT chamber where silver screens of high purity 99.96 % are used. The 10-firing tests are conducted under atmospheric conditions. The firings performed without heating are not completely successful. The analysis of the results shows that the thruster has a thrust range from 3.8-4.2 N. The performance of thruster starts to decay after consuming 6 kg of stabilized H2O2. The specific impulse (Is) is evaluated to be ≈93-97s at decomposition pressure of ≈10 bars and mass flow rate conf≈4.18 g/s. The performance evaluation is judged to be successful. However, using the whole potential of the 85% concentrated H2O2, is expected to increase (Is) up to ≈111.5s.

Dual-Plate Injector for Throttling of Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster

This study provides an experimental analysis of the throttling methods implemented using a throttleable injector that generates a thrust in the range 24–64% on a 50 N monopropellant thruster using 90 wt.% hydrogen peroxide and . The injector proposed in this study is a dual-plate injector. It is capable of controlling the mass flow rate using radial slotted and showerhead-type plates. The slotted plate was rotated and pressed against the showerhead-type plate by intersecting a number of injection ports to control the mass flow rate. Firing tests were conducted over the throttling range to verify the feasibility of the concept of the dual-plate injector. The experimental data of the injectant flow rate and chamber pressure were analyzed parametrically. It was observed that the dual-plate injector had a characteristic velocity in the range 81–97% depending on the range of thrust. In addition, a correlation was observed between the characteristic velocity efficiency and response time of the injector under varying injection conditions; that is, the characteristic velocity tends to increase with a decrease in the response time. The result can be applied to optimal control systems, and also be used to execute advanced missions accurately using a monopropellant thruster.

Numerical analysis of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

Numerical analysis of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

Numerical analysis of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

Numerical analysis can be used to optimise design of the green propulsion thruster with competitive costs compared to optimisation process through experiments. Furthermore, it could be used to pred...

Response characteristics of H2O2 monopropellant thrusters with MnO2-mixed PbO catalyst

As environmental concerns increase, rocket-grade hydrogen peroxide has been considered as one of the candidates for replacing toxic propellants. Various components for the development of monopropellant thrusters using hydrogen peroxide have been studied, including catalysts, catalytic supports, and design parameters in monopropellant thrusters. As a part of these efforts, an experimental investigation, including design parameters, for a catalyst bed is performed with MnO2-mixed PbO catalysts in a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster. In addition to basic performance of the monopropellant thruster, the response characteristics of rising time and tail-off time are compared with respect to two different catalysts. From the experimental results, it is found that a catalyst with high reactivity is much more preferable for reducing not only rising time but also tail-off time. Tail-off time in case of MnO2-mixed PbO is considerably shortened compared to that of MnO2. Moreover, design parameters, such as catalyst capacity and catalyst bed loading, for designing a catalyst bed in a monopropellant thruster can be suggested from an analysis of all experimental results.

Lanthanum doping for longevity of alumina catalyst bed in hydrogen peroxide thruster

The effects of doping alumina catalyst supports with lanthanum were investigated in terms of catalyst performance in a high concentration hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster. The catalyst support was doped with lanthanum by wet impregnation method in different conditions and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and bulk crushing strength (BCS) test. XRD showed adequate crystal structure by doping lanthanum on alumina and BET analysis demonstrated that the reduction of active surface area was modest, even though the catalyst was cured at a temperature higher than the phase transition temperature of alumina. The BCS test exhibited a 57.75% increase in the mechanical strength of the lanthanum doped alumina compared to pure γ-alumina. A 50 N monopropellant thruster was built and firing tests were conducted to examine the longevity of manganese oxide lanthanum doped alumina catalyst. The catalyst pellets were removed from the thruster and analyzed. The experimental results have shown significant improvements in the longevity of the catalyst. The firing tests have shown significant improvement in catalyst volume loss, along with characteristic velocity efficiency higher than 98%. The catalyst with lanthanum doped alumina has also shown better pressure stability and a steady pressure drop across the catalyst bed.

Preheating characteristics of H2O2 monopropellant thruster using manganese oxide catalyst

Preheating characteristics of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster with manganese oxide catalyst were investigated. Monopropellant thruster requires to preheat a catalyst bed for efficient operation in space environment. Optimum preheating temperature of hydrazine monopropellant thruster was well studied. However, preheating characteristics of 90 wt% hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster with manganese oxide catalyst are still a subject to research. For this purpose, a 50 N vacuum thrust class monopropellant thruster was employed. The preheating temperature was from 50 °C to 250 °C in increments of 50 °C, and a test in cold start was included as a control group. Their preheating characteristics were expressed in terms of rising time and pressure instability. The results indicate that a significant improvement in rising time and pressure instability was observed until the preheating temperature reached 150 °C. However, in further preheating temperature, the results showed no noteworthy improvements.

Evaluation of Ethanol-Blended Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant on a 10 N Class Thruster

The evaluation of an ethanol blended hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster was carried out. The specific impulse of hydrogen peroxide was increased by blending it with ethanol. Ethanol was selected because it presented no significant problem in terms of storability. An oxidizer-to-fuel ratio of 50 was selected considering the thermal characteristics of the material used and the higher specific impulse that was obtained in comparison to the theoretical specific impulse of hydrogen peroxide. For the thruster material, 316L stainless steel was chosen based on compatibility test results and other considerations. Barium hexaaluminate was used as a catalyst support because the chamber temperature increased owing to the combustion of ethanol. The surface area of barium hexaaluminate was approximately six times higher than that of alumina after heating at 1200°C. Platinum and manganese oxide with lead oxide catalysts were evaluated on a 10 N class thruster and the catalyst capacity, specific impulse, and efficiency characteristic velocity were almost similar. However, the fluctuation of the chamber pressure increased in the case of manganese oxide with lead oxide catalyst. The decomposition performance of both catalysts showed no remarkable difference, but the platinum catalyst was more reliable.

The design, development and test of one newton hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

A monopropellant system is one of the propulsion system types used in space which uses a single substance that reacts or decomposes by itself to a hot gas, releasing energy in the form of heat. This system has medium performance where the specific impulse range is between 130 and 225 seconds. The hydrazine liquid is the most used for monopropellant systems because it gives a good performance. However, hydrazine is a very toxic and inflammable substance that has an implication on the security of the persons during testing of the system. In addition, its freezing point is around 1.5 °C which can induce thermal problems during the spacecraftʼs mission. An alternative solution is to use hydrogen peroxide known as green propellant, which can be stored as liquid, and has high density level. An investigation and studies have been performed to develop new hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thrusters for application in the future satellites. The decomposition technology of hydrogen peroxide has been also used for the development of bipropellant and hybrid rocket engines. This paper presents the design, performances and tests of a one newton hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster. The test results obtained show that the monopropellant thruster gives good performances where the specific impulse is around 170 seconds.

Reduced-Order Model for H2O2 Catalytic Reactor Performance Analysis

The present paper describes a steady one dimensional model of the hydrogen peroxide decomposition flow in a pellet-type catalytic bed and its application to the parametric design of a typical reactor for small rocket propellant thrusters. The two-phase liquid-gas-vapor flow through the bed is treated as a homogeneous, adiabatic, chemically reacting flow, for which the properties depend on the local composition. Fast equilibrium hydrogen peroxide adsorption and first-order finite-rate desorption is assumed for the one-step hydrogen peroxide decomposition reaction on the catalyst surface. Standard viscous/aerodynamic correlations for porous media are used to account for pressure losses. The predictions of the model depend on a limited number of uncertain parameters, for which the values can be readily determined by comparison with the available experimental data. Good agreement has been attained between the model predictions and the results of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster firings. The model provides a rational framework for identifying the main operational parameters of catalytic pellet beds, understanding their interactions, and efficiently guiding the reactor sizing and design, using the indications easily obtained from sensitivity analyses.

Scaling and Evaluation of Pt/Al2O3 Catalytic Reactorfor Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster

A scaling methodology of hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster is described. As the decomposition process of the hydrogen peroxide on the surface of catalyst bed is extremely complex, empirical method was taken for design purposes. A small-scale thruster was fabricated and important design parameters, including temperature at different locations of the catalyst bed, were measured. Based on the measurement, the catalyst bed size as a function of the propellant flow rate was estimated. Using the scaling methodology, a catalyst bed configuration for a thruster capable of delivering 50 N was estimated. The thruster built on this design produced 42 N at sea level and specific impulse of 123 s.

Testing and Characterization of a Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster

In the present paper, the use of advanced catalytic beds on ceramic supports as a cost-effective alternative to metal screen reactors for the decomposition of high-concentration hydrogen peroxide in small monopropellant rockets is investigated. For this purpose, a reconfigurable test bench for the characterization of the operation and the propulsive performance of small rocket thrusters has been designed and realized. The present paper illustrates the experimental campaign carried out on a 5 N thruster prototype operating with two platinum catalysts on γ-alumina supporting spheres. The results indicated that Pt/Al 2 O 3 is an effective catalyst combination for the decomposition of 87.5% propellant-grade hydrogen peroxide, with good stability and performance comparable to silver screen beds of equal geometric envelope and operational conditions. Incomplete hydrogen peroxide decomposition and the onset of flow oscillations in the reactor were observed at the tested levels of bed loading, residence time, and flow pressure. Thermal stresses due to the large temperature gradients occurring during the decomposition of high-grade hydrogen peroxide (87.5 % by weight) caused the ceramic pellets to break and the progressive occlusion of the bed. Based on the analysis of the test results, several ways to overcome these problems in future investigations have been tentatively identified, together with the necessary modifications to the present experimental setup.

Performance and deactivation of Ir/γ-Al 2O 3 catalyst in the hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster

The performance of Ir/γ-Al 2O 3 catalyst for the decomposition of high concentration hydrogen peroxide was investigated in a monopropellant thruster. The changes of ignition delay ( t 0), chamber pressure ( P c) and catalyst bed temperature ( T c) with the numbers of startup–shutdown cycles were proved to be effective indicators of catalyst bed efficiency. The fresh catalyst and the deactivated catalyst were characterized with H 2-TPR, XRD and XPS. It was found that catalyst oxidation and surface Sn poisoning are the major reasons of catalyst deactivation.