Application of dimethyl ether to arcjet thruster and realizing dual mode operation

为了简化推进系统，实现大范围变推力，提出了一种二甲醚(DME)燃弧发动机推力器和节流式固体推进剂增力模块。推力增强舱有一种燃烧可控的固体推进剂，只有在外部热量提供给它的燃烧表面时才能维持燃烧。在2600W放电功率下测得比冲为330 S，推力器效率为0.14。用半导体激光器评价了可控燃固体推进剂外加热燃速。在某些固体推进剂的作用下，成功地启动了燃烧，并用激光照射停止了燃烧。燃烧测量得到的压力指数范围在0.4到0.6之间。理论上，当压强指数小于1.0时，固体推进器将保持稳定的推力。结果表明，采用燃烧可控推进剂的增力舱推力稳定。

In this study, we proposed a dimethyl ether (DME) arcjet thruster and throttleable solid-propellant thrust-augmentation module for simplifying the propulsion system and realizing wide range variable thrust. The thrust-augmentation module has a combustion-controllable solid propellant which sustains combustion only while an external heat was supplied to its burning surface. Thrust measurement for prototyped arcjet thruster yielded a specific impulse of 330 s and a thruster efficiency of 0.14 at a discharge power of 2600 W. Burning rate of combustion controllable solid propellant under external heating was evaluated using a semiconductor laser. With some solid propellants, combustion was successfully started and interrupted by laser irradiation. Burning measurement yielded pressure exponents regime from 0.4 and 0.6. Theoretically, if pressure exponents are lower than 1.0, a solid propellant thruster sustains a stable thrust. From the results, the thrust-augmentation module with combustion controllable propellants yields stable thrusts.