| CFDRC has designed, built and tested a controllable-thrust
solid rocket motor that demonstrates the ability of a SRM to modulate its
thrust in response to external demands. In an ordinary solid system, the
motor thrust is completely determined by the geometry inherent in the geometric
configuration of the burning grain. With a pintle system, a software controller
moves an axial pintle into and out of the nozzle throat to change the nozzle
throat area and thus the motor pressure and thrust. The primary application
for this technology is in tactical missile propulsion such as the DARPA
Netfires or DoD Common Missile program.
The CFDRC motor was a 6-inch diameter heavy wall system capable of producing
a range of thrust of approximately 150 to 750 pounds thrust. The motor
uses ten pounds of cartridge-loaded propellant, which for these tests
was a 1.1 class, min-smoke formulation that is a current production Army
SRM propellant.
The motor was fired in both a fixed mode and a closed-loop active control
mode based on motor pressure.
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