Seminar On Cryogenic Rocket Engines report Download

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Seminar On Cryogenic Rocket Engines report Download

Introduction :

Cryogenics originated from two Greek words “kyros” which means cold or freezing and “genes” which means born or produced. Cryogenics is the study of very low temperatures or the production of the same. Liquefied gases like liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen are used in many cryogenic applications. Liquid nitrogen is the most commonly used element in cryogenics and is legally purchasable around the world. Liquid helium is also commonly used and allows for the lowest temperatures to be reached. These gases can be stored on large tanks called Dewar tanks, named after James Dewar, who first liquefied hydrogen, or in giant tanks used for commercial applications.

The field of cryogenics advanced when during world war two, when metals were frozen to low temperatures showed more wear resistance.

In 1966, a company was formed, called Cyro-Tech, which experimented with the possibility of using cryogenic tempering instead of Heat Treating, for increasing the life of metal tools. The theory was based on the existing theory of heat treating, which was lowering the temperatures to room temperatures from high temperatures and supposing that further descent would allow more strength for further strength increase. Unfortunately for the newly-born industry the results were unstable as the components sometimes experienced thermal shock when cooled too fast. Luckily with the use of applied research and the with the arrival of the modern computer this field has improved significantly, creating more stable results.

The Space Shuttle’s main engines used for liftoff are cryogenic engines. The Shuttle’s smaller thrusters for orbital maneuvering use non-cryogenic hypergolic fuels, which are compact and are stored at warm temperatures. Currently, only the United States, Russia, China, France, Japan and India have mastered cryogenic rocket technology.

All the current Rockets run on Liquid-propellant rockets. The first operational cryogenic rocket engine was the 1961 NASA design the RL-10 LOX LH2 rocket engine, which was used in the Saturn 1 rocket employed in the early stages of the Apollo moon landing program.

The major components of a cryogenic rocket engine are:

The thrust chamber or combustion chamber
pyrotechnic igniter
fuel injector
fuel turbo-pumps
gas turbine
cryo valves
Regulators
The fuel tanks
rocket engine
nozzle

Among them, the combustion chamber and the nozzle are the main components of the rocket engine.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CRYOGENIC ENGINES

HM-7B Rocket Engine

HM-7 cryogenic propellant rocket engine has been used as an upper stage engine on all versions of the Ariane launcher. The more powerful HM-7B version was used on Ariane’s 2, 3 and 4 and is also used on the ESC-A cryogenic upper stage of Ariane 5. Important principles used in the HM-7 combustion chamber were adopted by NASA under license and it is this technology that formed the basis of today’s US space shuttle main engines – the first reusable rocket engine in the world.

Vulcain Rocket Engine

Vulcain (also known as HM-60) was the first main engine of the Ariane 5 cryogenic first stage (EPC). The development of Vulcain, assured by a European collaboration, began in 1988 with the Ariane 5 rocket program. It first flew in 1996 powering the ill-fated flight 501 without being the cause of the disaster, and had its first successful flight in 1997 (flight 502). In 2002 the upgraded Vulcain 2 with 20% more thrust first flew on flight 517, although a problem with the engine turned the flight into a failure. The cause was due to flight loads being much higher than expected, as the inquiry board concluded.