USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

The United States of America As Represented by the Department of Health

Timothy P Parr

Kenneth Jay Wilson

Klaus C Schadow

Kenneth H Yu

Robert A Smith

Ephraim Gutmark

Ken Yu

Donna M Hanson-Parr

Richard A Stalnaker

Jaul Warren

A supersonic combustion apparatus and method of using the same including a side wall cavity having an enhanced mixing system with ground-based oxygen injection for hypersonic material and engine testing.

Apparatus and method of using supersonic combustion heater for hypersonic materials and propulsion testing

This invention relates to air breathing engines, such as ramjets, scramjets and internal combustion, and more particularly to an active combustion control device for a combustor. In more particularity, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus that applies active combustion control technology to advanced propulsion devices and closed-loop fuel injection at sub-harmonic frequencies of the instability frequency of the combustor. The problem of limited actuator frequency response is addressed by injecting fuel pulses at sub-harmonic frequencies of the instability. The fuel may be liquid, solid or gas. To achieve this desired result, a closed loop controller is designed to determine sub-harmonic frequencies using a divider to divide the instability frequency of a combustor, yielding a fraction of the harmonic frequency. Also, this invention also combines open loop injection control with closed loop injection control to obtain enhanced engine performance, which includes extension of the stable combustion zone.

Method and device for modulation of a flame

The present invention relates to a method and device for controlling the solid fuel regression rate of a solid fuel ramjet engine. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, pressure oscillations are excited using active, closed-loop control to vary the heat transfer, and in turn the regression rate of a solid fuel ramjet engine. The pressure oscillations are excited by introducing small disturbances into the shear layer. The disturbances are amplified in the shear layer and excite pressure oscillations. The disturbances are introduced at a certain phase relative to the pressure oscillations. This is accomplished by closed-loop control. By varying the phase, the amplitude of the pressure oscillations can also be varied, which in turn will vary the heat transfer, regression rate, and thrust level.

Solid fuel regression rate control method and device

This invention involves an improved technique for the modulation of waste in an actively controlled compact waste incinerator afterburner. This improved technique utilizes acoustic driving to affect indirect modulation of waste flow velocities. The waste surrogate gases are modulated indirectly by periodic entrainment created by the roll-up of the main air vortex as well as indirect acoustic excitation of secondary air injection. One of the main advantages of this new configuration is the acoustic drivers used to phase inject the waste into the vortex for proper combustion are not in direct contact with the hot waste and therefore can be less expensive and more durable over the long term.

Apparatus for activity controlled waste incinerator afterburner

This invention involves an improved technique for the modulation of waste an actively controlled compact waste incinerator afterburner. This improved technique utilizes acoustic driving to affect indirect modulation of waste flow velocities. The waste surrogate gases are modulated indirectly by periodic entrainment created by the roll-up of the main air vortex as well as indirect acoustic excitation of secondary air injection. One of the main advantages of this new configuration is the acoustic drivers used to phase inject the waste into the vortex for proper combustion are not in direct contact with the hot waste and therefore can be less expensive and more durable over the long term.

Indirect modulation method for activity controlled waste incinerator

The present invention relates to an electric valve capable of producing podic mass-flow modulation of a gaseous, liquid, or mixed-phase medium over wide ranges of frequencies, pressure, and flow rates. Such mass-flow modulation can be used to periodically shed large-scale vortices at the outlet and to manipulate their dynamics allowing the user to actively control fluid mixing and transport further downstream. The device has a piezoelectric wafer that in a relaxed state abuts the upstream end of the outlet tube separating the pressurized fluid in the plenum with the outlet. The device has an apparatus for applying electric field to the wafer, which distorts the wafer and ruptures the seal forming a throat area that controls the fluid mass flux. Due to the fast response of the piezoelectric material to an electric field, the throat area can be modulated rapidly in time making the device operable even at high frequencies. The present invention is particularly useful for actively controlling fuel-air mixing in a combustor. However, it may be utilized in other applications such as in medical drug administration for inhalation therapy.

Mass-flux actuator with high frequency response

An improved method and apparatus for actively controlling a combustion process such as a waste incinerator by means of a spatial and temporal synchronized injection of fuel. The improved method and apparatus employs an active control system which controls the intentional formation of large scale, coherent vortices and the synchronized injection of the fuel supply at various locations relative to the formation of the vortices. The preferred apparatus comprises an actuator or similar structure that is adapted for producing and stabilizing discrete, large scale vortices in a combustion device. In addition, another device controls or modulates the injection of the fuel into the vortices at the optimal location and timing relative to the vortex cycle. As applied to an incinerator, this method can be optimized to ensures that the fuel and waste are introduced into the highest temperature locations, were extended residence times are obtained by trapping the fuel and waste inside the vortices. A high combustion efficiency may also be achieved by actively synchronizing the periodic fuel injection with the formation of the vortices.

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Ridgecrest, CA, United States of America

Timothy P Parr