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Results for “Turbine Driven Pump”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

Geothermal down well pumping system

A key technical problem in the exploitation of hot water geothermal energy resources is down-well pumping to inhibit mineral precipitation, improve thermal efficiency, and enhance flow. A novel approach to this problem involves the use of a small fraction of the thermal energy of the well water to boil and super-heat a clean feedwater flow in a down-hole exchanger adjacent to the pump. This steam powers a high-speed turbine-driven pump. The exhaust steam is brought to the surface through an exhaust pipe, condensed, and recirculated. A small fraction of the high-pressure clean feedwater is diverted to lubricate the turbine pump bearings and prevent leakage of brine into the turbine-pump unit. A project demonstrating the feasibility of this approach by means of both laboratory and down-well tests is discussed.

Matthews, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1971

An evaluation of a hubless inducer and a full flow hydraulic turbine driven inducer boost pump

The purpose of the study was to compare the performance of several configurations of hubless inducers with a hydrodynamically similar conventional inducer and to demonstrate the performance of a full flow hydraulic turbine driven inducer boost pump using these inducers. A boost pump of this type consists of an inducer connected to a hydraulic turbine with a high speed rotor located in between. All the flow passes through the inducer, rotor, and hydraulic turbine, then into the main pump. The rotor, which is attached to the main pump shaft, provides the input power to drive the hydraulic turbine which, in turn, drives the inducer. The inducer, rotating at a lower speed, develops the necessary head to prevent rotor cavitation. The rotor speed is consistent with present main engine liquid hydrogen pump designs and the overall boost pump head rise is sufficient to provide adequate main pump suction head. This system would have the potential for operating at lower liquid hydrogen tank pressures.

Lindley, B. K.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Advanced space engine preliminary design

A preliminary design was completed for an O2/H2, 89 kN (20,000 lb) thrust staged combustion rocket engine that has a single-bell nozzle with an overall expansion ratio of 400:1. The engine has a best estimate vacuum specific impulse of 4623.8 N-s/kg (471.5 sec) at full thrust and mixture ratio = 6.0. The engine employs gear-driven, low pressure pumps to provide low NPSH capability while individual turbine-driven, high-speed main pumps provide the system pressures required for high-chamber pressure operation. The engine design dry weight for the fixed-nozzle configuration is 206.9 kg (456.3 lb). Engine overall length is 234 cm (92.1 in.). The extendible nozzle version has a stowed length of 141.5 cm (55.7 in.). Critical technology items in the development of the engine were defined. Development program plans and their costs for development, production, operation, and flight support of the ASE were established for minimum cost and minimum time programs.

Cuffe, J. P. B.↗
NASA NTRS1959

Analytical Investigation of the Effect of Turbopump Design on Gross-Weight Characteristics of a Hydrogen-Propelled Nuclear Rocket

The effect of turbopump design on rocket gross weight was investigated for a high-pressure bleed-type hydrogen-reactor long-range rocket with a fixed mission. Axial-flow, mixed-flow, and centrifugal pumps driven by single and twin turbines were considered. With an efficiency of 0.7 assumed for all pumps, the lowest rocket gross weights were obtained with an axial-flow or a mixed-flow pump driven by a single turbine of at least eight stages. All turbopump combinations could be used, however, with gross weight varying less than 8 percent for a given payload. Turbopump efficiencies have a significant effect on the ratio of gross weight to payload with the magnitude of the effect determined by the ratio of rocket structural weight to total propellant weight. One point in pump efficiency is worth 0.2 percent in gross weight for a given payload with a structural weight parameter of 0.1 and 0.6 percent with a structural weight parameter of 0.2. Turbine and pump weights are much less significant in terms of gross-to-pay weight ratio than the efficiencies of these components. One point in pump efficiency is equivalent to approximately 13 percent in pump weight, while 1 point in turbine efficiency is equivalent to about 7 percent in turbine weight.

Rohlik, Harold E.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Experimental Simulation of Turbine-Exhaust Oxygen Recovery

In some liquid-propellant rocket engines, the liquid-oxygen boost pump is driven by a turbine that is powered by high-pressure gaseous oxygen. Once it exits the turbine, this gaseous oxygen can be salvaged by injecting it into the subcooled liquid oxygen exiting the boost pump. If the main LOX pump is to function correctly under these circumstances, complete condensation of the gaseous oxygen must quickly follow its injection into the boost-pump discharge. The current investigation uses steam and water in a simple rig that allows the condensation process to be visualized and quantified. This paper offers dimensionless-parameter correlations of the data and trends observed.

Clark, Jim A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Space Shuttle Main Engine structural analysis and data reduction/evaluation. Volume 2: High pressure oxidizer turbo-pump turbine end bearing analysis

The high-pressure oxidizer turbopump (HPOTP) consists of two centrifugal pumps, on a common shaft, that are directly driven by a hot-gas turbine. Pump shaft axial thrust is balanced in that the double-entry main inducer/impeller is inherently balanced and the thrusts of the preburner pump and turbine are nearly equal but opposite. Residual shaft thrust is controlled by a self-compensating, non-rubbing, balance piston. Shaft hang-up must be avoided if the balance piston is to perform properly. One potential cause of shaft hang-up is contact between the Phase 2 bearing support and axial spring cartridge of the HPOTP main pump housing. The status of the bearing support/axial spring cartridge interface is investigated under current loading conditions. An ANSYS version 4.3, three-dimensional, finite element model was generated on Lockheed's VAX 11/785 computer. A nonlinear thermal analysis was then executed on the Marshall Space Flight Center Engineering Analysis Data System (EADS). These thermal results were then applied along with the interference fit and bolt preloads to the model as load conditions for a static analysis to determine the gap status of the bearing support/axial spring cartridge interface. For possible further analysis of the local regions of HPOTP main pump housing assembly, detailed ANSYS submodels were generated using I-DEAS Geomod and Supertab (Appendix A).

Sisk, Gregory A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Liquid Rocket Engine with Hybrid Electric Motor Driven Pump

A nuclear thermal rocket with a superconducting electric motor driven boost pump submerged within a tank of liquid hydrogen, where the boost pump is driven by both an electric motor and a turbine. The boost pump can be submerged in liquid hydrogen so that the electric motor operates as a superconducting motor. Also, a turbopump for a rocket engine can include both a turbine and an electric motor to drive the liquid oxidizer and liquid fuel pumps of the turbopump.

Pinera, Alejandro↗
NASA NTRS1970

Small hydraulic turbine drives

Turbine, driven by the fluid being pumped, requires no external controls, is completely integrated into the flow system, and has bearings which utilize the main fluid for lubrication and cooling. Torque capabilities compare favorably with those developed by positive displacement hydraulic motors.

Rostafinski, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

SSME structural dynamic model development

The high pressure fuel turbopump (HPFTP) is a major component of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) powerhead. The device is a three stage centrifugal pump that is directly driven by a two stage hot gas turbine. The purpose of the pump is to deliver fuel (liquid hydrogen) from the low pressure fuel turbopump (LPFTP) through the main fuel valve (MFV) to the thrust chamber coolant circuits. In doing so, the pump pressurizes the fuel from an inlet pressure of approximately 178 psi to a discharge pressure of over 6000 psi. At full power level (FPL), the pump rotates at a speed of over 37,000 rpm while generating approximately 77,000 horsepower. Obviously, a pump failure at these speeds and power levels could jeopardize the mission. Results are summarized for work in which the solutions obtained from analytical models of the fuel turbopump impellers are compared with the results obtained from dynamic tests.

Foley, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Cooling system for high speed aircraft

The system eliminates the necessity of shielding an aircraft airframe constructed of material such as aluminum. Cooling is accomplished by passing a coolant through the aircraft airframe, the coolant acting as a carrier to remove heat from the airframe. The coolant is circulated through a heat pump and a heat exchanger which together extract essentially all of the added heat from the coolant. The heat is transferred to the aircraft fuel system via the heat exchanger and the heat pump. The heat extracted from the coolant is utilized to power the heat pump. The heat pump has associated therewith power turbine mechanism which is also driven by the extracted heat. The power turbines are utilized to drive various aircraft subsystems, the compressor of the heat pump, and provide engine cooling.

Lawing, P. L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Orbital transfer vehicle oxygen turbopump technology. Volume 1: Design, fabrication, and hydrostatic bearing testing

The design, fabrication, and initial testing of a rocket engine turbopump (TPA) for the delivery of high pressure liquid oxygen using hot oxygen for the turbine drive fluid are described. This TPA is basic to the dual expander engine which uses both oxygen and hydrogen as working fluids. Separate tasks addressed the key issue of materials for this TPA. All materials selections emphasized compatibility with hot oxygen. The OX TPA design uses a two-stage centrifugal pump driven by a single-stage axial turbine on a common shaft. The design includes ports for three shaft displacement/speed sensors, various temperature measurements, and accelerometers.

Buckmann, P. S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Computational fluid dynamics analysis in support of the simplex turbopump design

Simplex is a turbopump that is being developed at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) by an in-house team. The turbopump consists of a single-stage centrifugal impeller, vaned-diffuser pump powered by a single-stage, axial, supersonic, partial admission turbine. The turbine is driven by warm gaseous oxygen tapped off of the hybrid motor to which it will be coupled. Rolling element bearings are cooled by the pumping fluid. Details of the configuration and operating conditions are given by Marsh. CFD has been used extensively to verify one-dimensional (1D) predictions, assess aerodynamic and hydrodynamic designs, and to provide flow environments. The complete primary flow path of the pump-end and the hot gas path of the turbine, excluding the inlet torus, have been analyzed. All CFD analyses conducted for the Simplex turbopump employed the pressure based Finite Difference Navier-Stokes (FDNS) code using a standard kappa-epsilon turbulence model with wall functions. More detailed results are presented by Garcia et. al. To support the team, loading and temperature results for the turbine rotor were provided as inputs to structural and thermal analyses, and blade loadings from the inducer were provided for structural analyses.

Garcia, Roberto↗
NASA NTRS1979

Evaluation of candidate metals in a simulated space shuttle main engine environment for application as turbine blade dampers

The high-pressure pumps for the space shuttle main engine are driven by combustion products which are 50 percent H2 and 50 percent H2O (by weight). The Haynes alloy 188, used in the dampers, experienced erosion. The erosion producing characteristics of wet H2 were evaluated using a controlled environment produced by a ballistic compressor. Four candidate materials were evaluated: H-188, A-286, Pt/Rh and Rh. Rh was clearly the most erosion resistant. Comparisons with AISI 4340 and Fe specimens of known uniformity indicate that metallurgical defects in the candidate materials are primary contributors to the higher than usual erosion.

Caveny, L. H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

STS-31: APU Controller Removal

The launch April 10 of the STS-31 was scrubbed at T-4 minutes due to a faulty valve in auxiliary power unit (APU) number one. The auxiliary power unit is a hydrazine-fueled, turbine-driven power unit that generates mechanical shaft power to drive a hydraulic pump that produces pressure for the orbiter's hydraulic system. This video shows the removal of the STS-31's auxiliary power unit (APU).

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1973

Gas turbine engine fuel control

A variable orifice system is described that is responsive to compressor inlet pressure and temperature, compressor discharge pressure and rotational speed of a gas-turbine engine. It is incorporated into a hydraulic circuit that includes a zero gradient pump driven at a speed proportional to the speed of the engine. The resulting system provides control of fuel rate for starting, steady running, acceleration and deceleration under varying altitudes and flight speeds.

Gold, H. S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Selection of a pump-fed propulsion system for planetary exploration missions

A study has been conducted to select the most desirable pump-fed propellant feed system approach for planetary spacecraft. Four systems, including two battery powered and two gas generator driven systems, were considered. Complete propulsion system schematics were developed, including preliminary detailed design of both the electric motor and the gas turbine pump drives. Utilizing a Figure-of-Merit system which included consideration for reliability, development risk, complexity and growth potential as well as weight, the advanced battery powered electric motor drive system was selected for continued development at JPL.

Auslander, T. W.↗