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Content archived on 2024-06-18

Pulsed Chemical Rocket with Green High Performance Propellants

Objective

PulCheR (Pulsed Chemical Rocket with Green High Performance Propellants) is a new propulsion concept in which the propellants are fed in the combustion chamber at low pressure and the thrust is generated by means of high frequency pulses, reproducing the defence mechanism of a notable insect: the bombardier beetle.
The radical innovation introduced by PulCheR is the elimination of any external pressurizing system even if the thruster works at high pressure inside the combustion chamber. At each pulse, pressurization of the combustion chamber gases takes place due to the decomposition or combustion reaction, and the final pressure is much higher than the one at which the propellants are stored. The weight of the feeding system is significantly reduced because the propellants are fed at low pressure, and there is no need for turbopumps, high pressure propellant tanks or gas vessels. The feed pressure becomes independent on the chamber pressure and the performance degradation typical of the blow down mode in monopropellant thrusters can be avoided.
The PulCheR concept is able to substitute many currently used propulsion systems for accessing space. It can be employed for low orbital flight and beyond and subsequent re-entry (allowing also for re-usable vehicles), and can be used in space vehicles for typical manoeuvres around a planet or during interplanetary missions.
The feasibility of this new propulsion concept will be investigated at breadboard level in both mono and bipropellant configurations through the design, realization and testing of a platform of the overall propulsion system including all its main components. In addition, the concept will be investigated using green propellants with potential similar performance to the current state-of-the-art for monopropellant and bipropellant thrusters. The test campaign will experimentally investigate the propulsive performance of the system in terms of specific impulse, minimum impulse bit and thrust modulation.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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FP7-SPACE-2012-1
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Funding Scheme

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CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research project

Coordinator

SITAEL SPA
EU contribution
No data
Address
VIA S SABINO 21
70042 Mola Di Bari
Italy

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Region
Sud Puglia Bari
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (9)

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