Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Eskridge, R..
This viewgraph presentation describes the overall Plasma Thruster Experiment (PTX), it's purpose and design, compact toroid propulsion, advantages and requirements of a plasmoid thruster, the projected efficiency, theta-pinch formation, a simulation of the PTX Coil/Bank Circuit using SPICE, the test firing of the PTX Capacitor Bank, PTX diagnostics, the excluded flux array, thruster simulations using MOQUI, and future work on the PTX.
The current research effort at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in MTF is directed towards exploring the critical physics issues of potential embodiments of MTF for propulsion, especially standoff drivers involving plasma liners for MTF. There are several possible approaches for forming plasma liners. One approach consists of using a spherical array of plasma jets to form a spherical plasma shell imploding towards the center of a magnetized plasma, a compact toroid. Current experimental plan and status to explore the physics of forming a 2-D plasma liner (shell) by merging plasma jets are described. A first-generation coaxial plasma guns (Mark-1) to launch the required plasma jets have been built and tested. Plasma jets have been launched reproducibly with a low jitter, and velocities in excess of 50 km/s for the leading edge of the plasma jet. Some further refinements are being explored for the plasma gun, Successful completion of these single-gun tests will be followed by an experimental exploration of the problems of launching a multiple number of these jets simultaneously to form a cylindrical plasma liner.
The Field Reverse Configuration (FRC) is a magnetized plasmoid that has been developed for use in magnetic confinement fusion. Several of its properties suggest that it may also be useful as a thruster for in-space propulsion. The FRC is a compact toroid that has only poloidal field, and is characterized by a high plasma beta = (P)/(B (sup 2) /2Mu0), the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure, so that it makes efficient use of magnetic field to confine a plasma. In an FRC thruster, plasmoids would be repetitively formed and accelerated to high velocity; velocities of = 250 km/s (Isp = 25,000s) have already been achieved in fusion experiments. The FRC is inductively formed and accelerated, and so is not subject to the problem of electrode erosion. As the plasmoid may be accelerated over an extended length, it can in principle be made very efficient. And the achievable jet powers should be scalable to the MW range. A 10 kW thruster experiment - FAST (FRC Acceleration Space Thruster) has just started at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The design of FAST and the status of construction and operation will be presented.
The paper describes three experimental facilities which are being developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for rocket injector cold-flow characterization. The first of these is an already operational cold-flow ambient-backpressure facility, which uses water and air to simulate LOX and gaseous hydrogen, respectively; the facility can be used to obtain discharge coefficients, to measure flow uniformity, and to develop diagnostic techniques for use in the high-backpressure cold-flow chamber that is being currently developed at MSFC. The second is a cold-flow acrylic model facility to be used for evaluating the effect of changes in the internal flow geometry on the performance and combustion stability characteristics of a swirl coaxial LOX post. The third is a high-pressure cold-flow facility to be used for the characterization of the injector elements' performance; a specific application is to determine the effect of swirl elements on the temperature striations in the SSME preburners.
An IR emission/absorption technique for determining radial profiles of static temperature and species partial pressure for cylindrically symmetric combustion gases typical of the effluent of turbine engines and liquid-propellant rockets is described. In the technique, the IR plume radiance and absorption is measured using a 1 x 256-element platinum silicide detector array which is filtered to obtain plume emission measurements in the H2O band near 3.0 microns. A minicomputer is employed to control data acquisition and reduction.
In order to provide the information necessary to develop a rocket engine ground test failure detection monitor which keys on anomalous activity in the plume, a series of experimental observations were made during single engine Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) tests. The observations were conducted from the 220 nm wavelength in the ultraviolet out to the 15 micron wavelength in the infrared. Four types of instruments were employed including analog autoranging narrow band radiometers, optical multichannel analyzers, mechanical scanning and film plate spectrometers, and imaging cameras. Some results included: strong OH radiation in the UV up to vibrational transition state four; Na and K radiation lines in all phases of engine operation; reaction of some of the instruments to minor engine anomalies; good shock structure imaging; striations in the flow in the 310 nm OH band; and detection of gross changes in engine operating state such as start or shutdown.