Engineering topics

Horisawa, Hideyuki

Publications and source records attributed to Horisawa, Hideyuki.

6 records

DOE OSTI2011

Acceleration Mechanism Of Pulsed Laser-Electromagnetic Hybrid Thruster

A fundamental study of a newly developed rectangular pulsed laser-electromagnetic hybrid thruster was conducted. Laser-ablation plasma in the thruster was induced through laser beam irradiation onto a solid target and accelerated by electrical means instead of direct acceleration only by using a laser beam. The performance of the thrusters was evaluated by measuring the ablated mass per pulse and impulse bit. As results, significantly high specific impulses up to 7,200 s were obtained at charge energies of 8.6 J. Moreover, from the Faraday cup measurement, it was confirmed that the speed of ions was accelerated with addition of electric energy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2010

Chemically-Assisted Pulsed Laser-Ramjet

A preliminary study of a chemically-assisted pulsed laser-ramjet was conducted, in which chemical propellant such as a gaseous hydrogen/air mixture was utilized and detonated with a focused laser beam in order to obtain a higher impulse compared to the case only using lasers. CFD analysis of internal conical-nozzle flows and experimental measurements including impulse measurement were conducted to evaluate effects of chemical reaction on thrust performance improvement. From the results, a significant improvement in the thrust performances was confirmed with addition of a small amount of hydrogen to propellant air, or in chemically-augmented operation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2010

Laser-Assisted Micro-Pulsejet Thruster

A fundamental study of a laser-assisted micro-pulsejet thruster was conducted for a candidate of next-generation air-breathing micro-thruster systems. CFD analyses were conducted to evaluate internal phenomena, thrust performances, and influence of exhaust orifice for propellants of hydrogen-air mixture. Experimental investigations were also conducted to evaluate influence of exhaust orifices and the optimum configuration of the micro-combustion chamber. From the results, it was shown that the exhaust orifice was more effective for the improvement of thrust performance. Moreover, influence of combustor geometry on thrust performance for the improvement was confirmed. In our simulation and experimental results, the efficiency from ideal chemical energy, which is expected to be released from an ideal hydrogen-air mixture, into kinetic energy was a few percents. There are still some ways to recover this amount of loss with optimum combustor geometries and higher laser energies, and potential achieving much higher thrust performances.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2010

Rectangular Pulsed Laser-Electromagnetic Hybrid Accelerator

Experimental investigation of impulse-bit and propellant consumption rate, or mass shot, per single pulse discharge was conducted to characterize the thrust performance of the rectangular laser-electromagnetic hybrid acceleration thruster with various propellant materials. From the result, alumina propellant showed significantly superior performance. The largest values of the measured impulse-bit, specific impulse and thrust efficiency were 49 {mu}Nsec, 6,200 sec and 22%, respectively.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2010

Low-Power Laser-Metal Interaction for Space Propulsion Applications

The micro-Newton thrust generation was observed through low-power continuous-wave laser and aluminum foil interaction without any remarkable ablation of the target surface. To evaluate the thrust characteristics, a torsion-balance thrust stand capable for the measurement of the thrust level down to micro-Newton ranges was developed. In the case of an aluminum foil target with 12.5 micrometer thickness, the maximum thrust level was 15 micro-Newtons when the laser power was 20 W. It was also found that the laser intensity, or laser power per unit area, irradiated on the target was significantly important on the control of the thrust even under the low-intensity level.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2010

High-Isp Mode Of Pulsed Laser-Electromagnetic Hybrid Accelerator For Space Propulsion Applications

A fundamental study of a newly developed rectangular pulsed laser-electromagnetic hybrid thruster was conducted. Laser-ablation plasma in the thruster was induced through laser beam irradiation onto a solid target and accelerated by electrical means instead of direct acceleration only by using a laser beam. The performance of the thrusters was evaluated by measuring the mass shot and impulse bit. As results, significantly high specific impulses up to 7,200 sec were obtained at the charge energies of 8.6 J. In addition, typical thrust efficiency varied between 11.8% and 21.3% depending on the charge energy.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗