Xcor Aerospace

Daniel L DeLong

Jeffrey K Greason

Douglas B Jones

A method of cooling a rocket engine that includes removal of a gaseous propellant from a tank containing liquid propellant, thereby cooling the propellant in the tank, cooling a rocket engine with a coolant, thereby heating the coolant, and transferring heat from the heated coolant into the propellant in the tank, thereby heating the propellant in the tank and maintaining the pressure in the tank. In certain embodiments, the coolant is injected into the rocket engine after transferring heat from the rocket engine to the propellant in the tank.

Method for cooling rocket engines

An improved coaxial injector for injecting first and second propellants into a combustion chamber of a rocket engine is provided. The injector includes a first plate, a second plate, a plurality of channels formed in the first plate, and a plurality of tubes extending through the second plate and into the plurality of channels. The tubes inject a first propellant, such as an oxidizer, into the combustion chamber, and the channels inject a second propellant, such as a fuel, around the tubes and into the combustion chamber.

Micro-coaxial injector for rocket engine

The present invention relates to rocket engine combustion chambers, and more particularly to an improved rocket engine combustion chamber having a jacket. In some embodiments, a combustion system for a rocket engine includes an injector, a cylindrical combustion chamber, and a jacket coupled to the combustion chamber and to the injector. The combustion chamber can expand axially and/or radially with respect to the jacket. The outer surface of the combustion chamber includes a plurality of flow channels. One or more piston seals and/or bellows can be included to allow axial expansion of the combustion chamber with respect to the jacket. A gap formed between the inner surface of the jacket and the outer surface of the combustion chamber allows for radial expansion of the combustion chamber with respect to the jacket.

Rocket combustion chamber with jacket

A system and method of driving a fuel pump and/or an oxidizer pump in a propulsion system includes pumping an oxidizer from an oxidizer supply to a rocket engine with the oxidizer pump. A first portion of the pumped oxidizer is used for combustion in the rocket engine. The heat from the combustion of the first portion of the oxidizer is then transferred to a second portion of the pumped oxidizer to convert the second portion of the oxidizer to a super-heated gaseous oxidizer. The super-heated gaseous oxidizer operates a motor, which drives the oxidizer pump and/or the fuel pump.

Partial superheat cycle for operating a pump in a rocket system

A propulsion system for a rocket engine and a method of cooling a rocket engine includes a propellant tank fluidically coupled to the rocket engine to hold a pressurized propellant, a coolant tank to hold a coolant, a first heat exchanger thermally coupled to the rocket engine and fluidically coupled to the coolant tank, a second heat exchanger thermally coupled to the propellant tank and fluidically coupled to the first heat exchanger, and a third heat exchanger disposed inside the propellant tank to thermally couple a propellant withdrawn from the tank for combustion to a propellant disposed inside the tank. The coolant flows from the coolant tank to the first heat exchanger and through the first heat exchanger to cool the rocket engine. The propellant withdrawn from the propellant tank receives heat from the propellant disposed inside the tank through the third heat exchanger to convert to a gaseous propellant when withdrawn from the propellant tank as a liquid propellant. The coolant flows from the first heat exchanger to the second heat exchanger and through the second heat exchanger to heat the propellant disposed inside the propellant tank.

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Mojave, CA, United States of America

Daniel L DeLong