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Lockheed Martin Corporation

Herbert Stephen Jones

Darren Andrew Kearney

Rory Nell McLeod

Ryan Earl Roberts

Joseph Paul Arves

Harry Phillip Williams

A rocket engine ( ) generates a flow of hot propulsion fluid through a nozzle ( N). Hybrid exhaust gas generators ( ) have their exhausts ( ) through the side of the nozzle. Each gas generator includes a fuel grain ( ) and a source of oxidizer ( ). The fuel grain is kept hot by either or both (a) direct radiation or conduction from the hot propulsion fluid, or (b) by a trickle of oxidizer. When the thrust vector is to be modified, the appropriate one of the hybrid gas generators receives a flow of oxidizer, and the resulting exhaust gas is injected through the side of the nozzle.

Hybrid injection thrust vector control

A low-cost rocket or thruster has a low-cost propellant injector, in which fluid fuel and oxidizer are injected into a combustion chamber. The walls of the combustion chamber are protected from the high temperatures of the combustion by a grain of solid propellant, the surface of which tends to melt andor vaporize in the presence of combustion temperatures, and thereby protects the walls of the chamber. The low-cost propellant injector may not mix the fluid fuel and oxidizer effectively, so that pockets of noncombusted gas may occur within the chamber. The ratio of fluid fuel and oxidizer is selected to be slightly oxidizer-rich, so that any pockets of unburned gas tend to be oxygen-rich. When the pockets come into contact with the solid fuel, the excess oxygen combusts with the gaseous solid fuel, and when the mixture is near stoichiometric, the fluid fuel combusts. Thus, an inexpensive bipropellant injector together with a solid fuel grain simultaneously allows use of solid fuel instead of insulation to protect the combustion chamber walls, and the combustion is stabilized by the presence of the solid fuel. Ideally, the amount of excess oxidizer should be sufficient to completely combust the solid fuel. The preferred propellants are LO2 and LH2, and the preferred solid fuel is HTPB.

Hybrid-LO2-LH2 low cost launch vehicle

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Lacombe, LA, United States of America

Herbert Stephen Jones