Firefly Aerospace Inc.

Other

Bluefire Equipment Corporation

Anatoli Alimpievich Borissov

Thomas Edward Markusic

Vladimir Shtern

Geliy Mirzoev

The inventors introduce the Borissov-Markusic Cycle as the new rocket engine cycle to solve the problem of low efficient open gas generator or tap-off gas generator cycles used to supply power to turbopump. A liquid rocket engine directs turbopump exhaust from a turbopump to a booster engine having an intake to accept ambient airflow, such as a variation of a ramjet, scramjet or dual mode ram scramjet engine. The turbopump is powered by combustion gases, such as from a gas generator or a tap-off manifold interfaced with the liquid rocket engine combustion chamber, and applies energy of the combustion gases to pump fuel and/or liquid oxygen to the liquid rocket engine combustion chamber. The combustion gases have a fuel-rich composition that includes unconsumed fuel from incomplete oxidation so that, upon injection into the combustion chamber of the booster engine, oxidation by ambient air of the unconsumed fuel releases energy to generate thrust with the booster engine.

Liquid rocket engine booster engine with combustion gas fuel source

A liquid rocket engine cools a thruster body by pumping propellant through cooling channels integrated in the thruster body between internal and external surfaces. One or more of the cooling channel surfaces has a variable depth along a thrust axis to mix propellant flow and destroy thermal stratification, such as a depth that varies with a repeated contiguous sinusoidal form along the thrust axis. Fuel passed through the cooling channels injects from the combustion chamber wall towards a central portion of the combustion chamber to cross impinge with oxygen injected at the combustion chamber head so that a toroidal vortex forms to enhance propellant mixing. The cooling channels are formed by milling at the combustion body exterior, filling the channels with wax, then electroplating metal to enclose the channels.

Liquid rocket engine cooling channels

A liquid rocket engine integrates tap-off openings at a combustion chamber wall to direct exhaust from the combustion chamber to a tap-off manifold that provides the exhaust to one or more auxiliary systems, such as a turbopump that pumps oxygen and/or fuel into the combustion chamber. The tap-off opening passes through a fuel channel formed in that combustion chamber exterior wall and receives fuel through a fuel opening that interfaces the fuel channel and tap-off opening. The tap-off manifold nests within a fuel manifold for thermal management. The fuel channel directs fuel into the combustion chamber through fuel port openings formed in the combustion chamber, the fuel port openings located closer to a headend of the combustion chamber than the tap-off openings.

Liquid rocket engine tap-off power source

A liquid rocket engine cools a thruster body by pumping propellant through cooling channels integrated in the thruster body between internal and external surfaces. One or more of the cooling channel surfaces has a variable depth along a thrust axis to mix propellant flow and destroy thermal stratification, such as a depth that varies with a repeated contiguous sinusoidal form along the thrust axis. Fuel passed through the cooling channels injects from the combustion chamber wall towards a central portion of the combustion chamber to cross impinge with oxygen injected at the combustion chamber head so that a toroidal vortex forms to enhance propellant mixing.

Liquid rocket engine cross impinged propellant injection

Sustor2 provides deep cooling of a gas flow, practically total condensation of a vapor, and fast and effective removal of the condensed liquid with a significantly reduced pressure losses compared with the prior art. Sustor2 performs the said operations by developing a strong swirling flow starting from its entrance, followed by spiral flow convergence in the inlet disc-like part, and then in a converging-diverging nozzle, by centrifugal removal of droplets, and removal of the liquid film through slits, then by spiral flow divergence and leaving the vortex chamber through tangential outlet. A gas enters from a pipeline (see the arrow in the A-A cross-section shown in FIG.) connected to Sustor2 by a flange and the inlet transition pipe ITP in FIG., spirally converged in the disc-like part, marked by A-A in FIG., enters the converging-diverging nozzle (FIG.). The flow is high-speed and swirling even at the near-entrance region of the vortex chamber. This swirl results in the centrifugal force that presses the through-flow to the sidewall. The flow accelerates near the nozzle throat up to a supersonic velocity with subsonic axial and supersonic swirl velocity components. This acceleration results in the gas temperature drop down to 200K and even less values. The reduced temperature causes rapid condensation of vapor into droplets. The centrifugal force pushes the droplets to the sidewall where they are removed through slits. Next the dried gas spirally diverges and leaves the vortex chamber through the tangential outlet. This results in the pressure recovery and transformation of the swirl kinetic energy into the longitudinal kinetic energy of the gas. Both the effects decrease pressure losses which is the Sustor2 advantage compared with the prior art.

Supersonic swirling separator 2 (Sustor2)

A rotary drill bit () is provided for drilling a hole in a subsurface formation. The bit body () includes a plurality of axially extending ribs (and) and a flow channel between adjacent ribs. A plurality of cutting elements are fixedly mounting on a respective one of the plurality of ribs. A plurality of flow nozzles (and) direct fluid to a respective one of the plurality of cutting elements to clean and cool the cutting elements.

Growing community of inventors

Sugar Land, TX, United States of America

Anatoli Alimpievich Borissov