Trw Limited

US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

John J Biess

Ralph H Lovberg

Robert L Sackheim

Donald L Cronin

Charles L Dailey

Yuan Yu

A hybrid chemical/electromagnetic propulsion system which combines thermal expansion of a chemically-reacted propellant with electromagnetic acceleration of the propellant to provide an efficient propulsion system that operates in the specific impulse I.sub.sp range of 800 to 2500 seconds. The hybrid chemical/electromagnetic propulsion system includes a reaction chamber, an expansion nozzle mounted to the exit of the reaction chamber, and an induction coil wound around a portion of the expansion nozzle. The reaction chamber supports the combustion or chemical reaction of a propellant to form high-temperature ionizable reaction products. The expansion nozzle then expands these high-temperature reaction products to generate thrust. The induction coil generates a varying electric and magnetic field which ionizes and magnetically accelerates the reaction products to generate additional thrust. A drive circuit supplies current to the induction coil in a manner that maximizes this additional thrust.

Hybrid chemical/electromagnetic propulsion system

An improved series inductor/parallel inverter power stage and power staging ethod for a transistor controlled DC-DC power converter in which the integrating capacitance is located in the output of the power stage transformer and the series inductor has a secondary winding connected across this capacitance for transferring stored energy from the inductor primary directly to the transformer output rather than through the transformer, and current flow through the transformer primary is controlled by two parallel, alternately conducting pulse-width-modulated transistors in a manner such that only a single transistor is located in the main current flow path at any given time. The improved power stage is characterized by reduced power dissipation and peak voltage stresses on the transistors, increased simplicity, and improved reliability. A DC-DC power converter having at least two improved power stages of the invention arranged in parallel and adjusted for conduction of preset fractions of the total power in phased relation.

Series induction/parallel inverter power stage and power staging method

An improved feedback control system to govern the cyclic operation of the power switch of a non-dissipative power conditioning equipment. The apparatus includes two or three control loops working in unison. The first causes the output DC level to be compared with a reference, and the error amplified for control purposes. The second utilizes the AC component of the voltage across the output filter inductor or the current through the output filter capacitor, and the third loop senses the output transients.

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Canoga Park, CA, United States of America

John J Biess