The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 23, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1994
Manfred Steenborg, Ritterhude, DE;
ERNO Raumfahrttechnik GmbH, Bremen, DE;
Abstract
A thermal arcjet propulsion plant is particularly constructed for position and orbit corrections in a space flying body or spacecraft. A housing forms an anode and an expansion nozzle. An elongated rod mounted in an electrically insulating manner centrally in the housing forms the cathode which reaches with its tip into a plenum chamber just upstream of the nozzle. Propellant components formed by dissociating ammonia are injected into the plenum chamber. A small gap is provided between the tip of the cathode and the restrictor of the nozzle. An arc is ignited in this gap and the thermal arc energy is taken up by the by propellant. A dissociation chamber for the by propellant is arranged around the housing. The arrangement is such that the chamber in which the gas dissociation takes place is arranged in series with and upstream of the plenum chamber. The cathode is also arranged in series with the restrictor and the nozzle. The cathode is connected through a flexible electrical conductor to an electric power supply. Similarly, the housing forming the anode is connected to the same power supply. The dissociation chamber includes a catalyst for a catalytic and/or thermal dissociation of the ammonia into its components of hydrogen and nitrogen.