• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.605-610
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• 2004

Solid propellants allow thrusters to be light-weight, com-pact and robust because they require neither tank nor valve, Moreover, the solid propellant will not leak, spill or slosh. Consequently, the solid propellant thruster is one of the potential candidates for the microthruster. On the other hand, the control of the solid propellant combustion is difficult, since the conventional solid propellant continues to bum until all the stored propellant is consumed. Although particular devices like thrust reverser were designed to control the combustion, these devices were rarely used in the practical rocket motors. These devices rise thruster weight as well as complicate the thruster operation. In this study, a solid propellant microthruster using laser sustained combustion was designed in order to develop a high-efficiency microthruster overcoming the previously-mentioned difficulty. This designed thruster has semiconductor lasers and non-self-combustible solid propellants in addition to the conventional solid propellant thruster. In this designed thruster, the semiconductor laser controls the combustion of the non-self-combustible solid propellant. In order to demonstrate that the solid propellant combustion is controllable with laser, some non-self-combustible solid propellants were irradiated with the laser at a back-pressure of about 1㎪. A 40-W class Neodymium Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (ND:YAG) laser was used as a tentative alternate to the semiconductor laser. This experiment has shown that the solid propellant combustion was controllable with 10- W class laser irradiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.147-150
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• 2003

The purpose of this research was to develope components of micro solid propellant thruster. Micro solid propellant thruster had four basic components: combustion chamber, nozzle, solid propellant and micro heater for ignition. A performance of micro heater and characteristic of solid propellant was investigated. Micro heater was fabricated by conventional MEMS process and Platinum layer was used for heating element. Effect of geometry parameters on micro heater was tested. The temperature responses of heater with respect to each parameters was compared for a given electrical power. The characteristic of solid propellant(HTPB/AP) was investigated to obtain burning velocity in small chamber. Additionally, a capacity of filling propellant with high viscosity in small chamber was checked to guarantee for the micro fabrication.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.225-228
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• 2007

Micro solid propellant thruster is the most feasible for development with current MEMS. Basic components of micro solid propellant thruster are diverging nozzle, micro igniter, combustion chamber, and solid propellant. Micro nozzles and micro chambers were fabricated using photosensitive glass by anisotropic wet etching technique. Micro Pt heaters on glass membrane which ignited solid propellant were developed. Components of thruster were integrated. Successful ignition was observed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1264-1270
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• 2004

In this paper research on micro solid propellant thruster is reported. Micro solid propellant thruster has four basic components; micro combustion chamber, micro nozzle, solid propellant and micro igniter. In this research igniter, solid propellant and combustion chamber are focused. Micro igniter was fabricated through typical micromachining and the effect of geometry was evaluated. The characteristic of solid propellant was investigated to observe burning characteristic and to obtain burning velocity. Change of thrust force and the amount of energy loss following scale down at micro combustion chamber were estimated by numerical simulation based on empirical data and through the calculation normalized specific impulses were compared to figure out the efficiency of combustion chamber.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.1280-1285
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• 2004

Microsystem technology has been applied to space technology and became one of the enabling technology by which low cost and high efficiency are achievable. Micro propulsion system is a key technology in the miniature satellite because micro satellite requires very small and precise thrust force for maneuvering and attitude control. In this paper research on micro solid propellant thruster is reported. Micro solid propellant thruster has four basic components; micro combustion chamber, micro nozzle, solid propellant and micro igniter. In this research igniter, solid propellant and combustion chamber are focused. Micro igniter was fabricated through typical micromachining and evaluated. The characteristic of solid propellant was investigated to observe burning characteristic and to obtain burning velocity. Change of thrust force and the amount of energy loss following scale down at micro combustion chamber were estimated by numerical simulation based on empirical data and through the calculation normalized specific impulses were compared to figure out the efficiency of combustion chamber.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.77-84
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• 2006

With the development of micro/nano spacecraft, concepts of micro propulsion are introduced for orbit transfer and drag compensation as well as attitude control. Micro solid propellant thruster has been attention as one of possible solution for micro thruster. In this paper, micro solid propellant thruster is introduced and research on basic components of a micro solid propellant thruster is reported. Micro Pt igniter was fabricated through negative patterning and quantitative effect of geometry was estimated. The characteristic of HTPB/AP solid propellant was investigated to measure the homing velocity. A combustion chamber was fabricated by means of anisotropic etching of photosensitive glass. Finally, micro solid propellant thrusters having various geometries were fabricated and tested.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.581-586
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• 2008

The MEMS solid propellant thrusters have very low thrust level for applying to the propulsion system of micro/nano satellites or the side jet thruster of smart bombs. In this research, the fabrication possibility of planar type MEMS solid propellant thrusters that have enlarged burning surface area was examined and the safety of the structure of thruster during the firing test was confirmed. The performance of a micro igniter which is the key component of the MEMS solid propellant thruster was estimated by the ANSYS Icepak and evaluated by the experiment. Finally, the thrust was measured by the micro force sensor. The levels of thrust were 300, 600 mN in the case of K=15, 20.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.251-254
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• 2006

Micro thruster is a key technology in the micro/nano satellite. MSPT has been attracted attention as a one of possible solution for micro thruster MSPT as a systems four components. It is composed of nozzle, igniter, combustion chamber and propellant. This paper surveys varioud MSPTs which have been reported. The model of MSPT arrays for total impulse of 1 mNs is proposed. Combustion chamber is designed and fabricated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.215-218
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• 2007

Internal Ballistic modeling and performance prediction for solid propellant micro thruster was performed with heat loss to the chamber wall as an important factor of miniaturization. Simple l-D end-burner type thruster and general HTPB-AP type composite propellant were selected for computation model. The results showed that the performance loss with the heat loss to the surroundings becomes larger as the surface-to-volume ratio is increased. In this case, the total impulse was reduced about 3% of the case in adiabatic condition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.91-94
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• 2007

The fabrication and firing test of the ignition system for a micro solid propellant thruster are described in the present paper. Pt igniter coil was patterned on the glass membrane that was fabricated by the wet etching process. The thickness of Pt layer was $2000{\AA}$ and the width of igniter pattern was $40{\mu}m$. The thickness and diameter of glass membrane were $15{\mu}m$ and 1 mm, respectively. Ignition test was performed. Successful ignition of HTPB/AP propellant was obtained with an ignition delay of 1.6 s at an input voltage of 12 V. The ignition energy was estimated to be 1.4 J.