26A. Cryogenic Bipropellant Liquid Rocket Engine Development

Lead Presenter(s)

William Haupt

Abstract or Description

William H. Haupt, Colton Chandler, Joshua Kupras, Andrew Bianchi, Jake Ramsey, Jack Buffington, Andrew Thomson. The scrupulous design process of this engine was ultimately driven by the choice of propellants. The use of cryogenic liquid oxygen and propane, introduced many significant challenges. The temperature necessary to maintain oxygen at a liquid state is roughly -300° Fahrenheit, with which there are inherent risks and safety hazards associated due to its extreme volatility and reactive nature. Its propensity to combust meant minimizing the possibility of unplanned events was of paramount importance. The extremely low temperatures required to maintain oxygen in its liquid state resulted in logistical difficulties regarding transportation and storage. Issues caused by the lack of commercially available components for small scale, low-budget cryogenic design were overcome through the utilization of custom designs and manufacturing engine components in-house. Each section of the rocket was iteratively designed from scratch, including the plumbing system and test-fire procedure. Performance data such as thrust and specific impulse will be collected to characterize the rocket and to analyze properties of the chosen propellants. The resulting analysis will be used by future students to develop new cryogenic liquid rocket designs and eventually flight.

Mentor

James E. Lyne