#1
|
||||
|
||||
Battery-powered rockets
Hello All,
Here is a new "smallsat" launch vehicle technology that could eventually find its way into hobby rocketry, making liquid bi-propellant powered models practical. Rocket Lab Ltd.'s "Electron" launch vehicle will use the Rutherford engine, a 3D printed LOX/kerosene rocket engine whose fuel and oxidizer pumps use brushless DC electric motors powered by lithium-polymer batteries (see: http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_1...ption/Frame.htm ). The announcement regarding this development (which is accompanied by a photograph of a Rutherford engine firing on a static test stand, as shown on Norbert Brugge's above-linked website) says: *********************************************** April, 2015 Rocket Lab unveiled the Rutherford engine, revealing that the Electron launch system is the world’s first battery-powered rocket. Unlike traditional propulsion cycles based on complex and expensive gas generators, the 4,600 lbf (20.51 kN) Rutherford adopts an entirely new electric propulsion cycle, making use of high-performance brushless DC electric motors and lithium-polymer batteries to drive its turbopumps. It is manufactured by three-dimensional, additive-manufacturing techniques that include laser and electron-beam sintering, with Inconel and titanium powder as the feed stock. Rutherford is the first oxygen/hydrocarbon engine to use 3D printing for all primary components including its engine chamber, injector, pumps and main propellant valves. *********************************************** First piston-pump powered liquid propellant rockets, and now battery-powered rockets! We live in amazing technological times...
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|