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CFDRC has extensive experience in building and testing of prototype propulsion devices. A brief overview is given here.
Submerged Ram Air Turbine
CFDRC has completed design and fabrication of a submerged Ram Air Turbine (RAT) power source customized for operation in the U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Airborne Electronic Attack (NGAEA) Jamming Pod. Submerged RAT technology is considered an enabling element in regard to eliminating the utilization of external RAT technology as found on the ALQ-99 jamming pod originally conceived in the 1960s. On the original system the entire frontal area of the pod is not available for mounting electronic warfare weapons. This severely limits the forward range and performance of the jamming pod electronic warfare equipment and necessitates deeper penetration into enemy air space to facilitate maximum electronic warfare performance. CFDRC’s RAT configuration enables the entire jamming pod surface to be utilized for transmitters, exciters, beam formers and other electronic warfare technologies – a key attribute of the NGAEA jamming pod initiative. Our submerged RAT assembly is depicted below.
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CFDRC is also examining the potential of a closed loop jamming pod electronics cooling heat sink that transfers thermal energy back into the airflow prior to entering the RAT. The jamming pod and RAT configuration are depicted below.
For more information, please contact
us.
Pintle Controlled SRM
| CFDRC designed and built a heavyweight pintle-controlled solid rocket
motor test bed. The propellant used was a current production reduced-smoke
tactical missile propellant from Atlantic Research Corp. The actuator
and controller were supplied by Honeywell but programmed by CFDRC.
The testing was performed under subcontract at ARC's Gainesville VA
facilities. |
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An image from the final test of the series is shown below.
For more information, please contact
us.
Air Turbo Rocket (ATR) Engine
Working with the US Army and Air Force put together and presented for
testing a 6-inch diameter, solid propellant gas generator-driven ATR prototype.
It incorporated an advanced 4:1 compression ratio mixed flow compressor
(designed by Sundstrand under subcontract), a 2-stage re-entry turbine,
and modular combustor with interchangeable geometry for swirling and counter-rotating
fuel and air streams.
This ground test version was predicted to have a thrust of 600 lbf and
a specific impulse of 900 seconds using a boron-seeded solid propellant
gas generator grain
The image below shows the prototype assembled at CFDRC prior to delivery
for testing.
Air Turbo Rocket (Short Presentation)
Constant Volume Pulsed Rocket
Current research is focusing on a prototype rocket chamber that operates
in a pulsed mode, using a pintle to close the nozzle throat and contain
the reactant gasses until combustion is completed. The paradigm is to
operate a rocket more like a car engine. Potential uses are for small
in-space applications. The image below shows a 3D CAD layout of the engine
prototype, with a section of the nozzle cut away to show the pintle in
the interior. The prototype was designed for use with propane and nitrous
oxide as propellants. Fuel injection was through automotive NOS-brand
injectors. Combustion was initiated using 2 motorcycle spark plugs. The
pintle was actuated back and forth using compressed air.
Testing was completed at CFDRC facilities and at our
STTR partner,
the Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). The image to the right shows
the mounted system and the motor firing vertically. |
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For more information, please contact
us.
Gelled Propellant Mixing
CFDRC is perhaps the only commercial company capable of selling research
systems for the manufacture of batch gelled propellants. Current systems
can be used to prepare inert water simulants or for the gelling of IRFNA
or MMH gels.
Gelled Propellant Rheology
CFDRC has designed and fabricated a rheometer for the precise measurement
of gelled propellant rheological properties. Gelled rocket propellants
are thixotropic (shear-thinning), that is, their dynamic viscosity varies
greatly from "at rest" conditions (1 MP?) to free flowing (100
P?) under sheared conditions.
Gelled Combustion and Diagnostics
CFDRC teamed with ORBITEC to instrument and analyze the combustion process
occurring in a vortex-driven tactical rocket motor using gelled IRFNA
and MMH. Shown below is an image from one of the firings
Electrostatic Atomization
Testing of the electrostatic atomization process has moved from the isolated,
open-air testing shown in the first pair of images to the incorporation
of a working device in a gas turbine combustor sector rig.
For more information on our technologies and capabilities in this area
and to discuss your specific needs, please contact
us.
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