Purdue Research Foundation

Anthony George Cofer

Alina Alexeenko

Stephen Douglas Heister

Steven M Pugia

David Allen Spencer

Steven Collicott

Katherine L Fowee

A microthruster for controlling small spacecraft and methods for manufacturing the same are disclosed. Embodiments of the microthruster include one or more nozzle throats with cross sectional areas of at most 20 μm, and some with 6 μm. Some embodiments include heaters that heat water in one or more reservoirs to increase pressure in the reservoirs and eject the water from the one or more nozzle throats. Some embodiments are manufactured by etching channels into one or more layers of material, and still further embodiments are manufactured by forming the nozzle throats and/or the reservoirs between two layers of material. Some microthruster embodiments are flat in shape with the nozzle throats ejecting water out the thin sides of the microthruster. Still further embodiments are formed by etching channels into one layer of material, printing a heater onto another layer of material, and bonding the two layers together.

Tunable water-based microthruster devices and methods

A microfabricated valve with no moving parts. In one embodiment, the valve includes a reservoir of a liquid that is in fluid communication with an outlet channel having a throat that is less than 100 microns wide. Preferably, the channel is an elongated slit. The configuration of channel is adapted and configured such that surface tension of the liquid prevents flow out of the channel. A heater increases the temperature of the meniscus of the fluid, until a portion of the fluid is ejected from the channel. The ejection of the fluid creates both a thrusting effect and a cooling effect.

Microelectronic thermal valve

A vapor-pressure driven micro pump system comprising an enclosure of a supporting structure; a first chamber having a first volatile material as a propellant with a plurality of exit nozzles; a second chamber have a second volatile material inside of a collapsible diaphragm which separates the first and the second chambers within said enclosure, wherein a vacuum at the plurality of exit nozzles causes vaporization of said propellant, which is compensated and displaced by vapor of said second volatile material at a substantially constant pressure by moving of said collapsible diaphragm. The vapor-pressure driven pump system is useful for various situations, especially in a gravity-free environment in space exploration.

Vapor-pressure driven pump

A drag sail deployment assembly has an enclosure supporting four boom deployment assemblies and four retractable booms. Each boom deployment assembly includes a hub and motor. The hub is configured to hold a wound boom and to rotatably pay out the wound boom. The motor is disposed at least in part within an interior of the hub, and rotates the hub. Each boom is associated with a corresponding one of the four boom deployment assemblies. Each boom includes a plurality of spring elements disposed within a sleeve. Each boom is wound onto the hub of the corresponding boom deployment assembly in a first configuration wherein the spring elements are compressed toward each other. Each boom is configured to expand into a second configuration wherein central portions of the spring elements are spaced apart from each other when the boom is unwound from the hub of the corresponding boom deployment assembly.

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Lafayette, IN, United States of America

Anthony George Cofer