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A 3000 Ns Sugar-Sodium Nitrate Motor Development For Space Education
A 3000 Ns Sugar-Sodium Nitrate Motor Development For Space Education
06
Stancato, F.
Universidade do Norte do Paraná
Catalani Racca, J. G., Castaldo, F., Carbonari, G., Souza, L.A., Ballarotti, M.G.
Universidade Estadual de Londrina
1
knowledge in Mathematics, Physics and
Chemistry in the design, construction, tests It was decided for a solid propellant motor
and launch of an experimental rocket. In for its low cost hardware and rapid
1995 it was developed the first successful development. It was studied some modern
250 Ns solid propellant called M1. Soon an composite propellants but the price and
750 Ns motor was developed with composite availability of some components made it
tube. These motors were used in more than unaffordable. It was decided to use the
15 launches from 1995 to 2000. The rockets sugar-sodium nitrate for its low price, easy
used in this launches had 63 mm in diameter, access reliability and safe manipulation.
1,5 to 1,8 meters in length and carried only a Development time would be shortened as the
recovery system and an accelerometer. GFE had used it extensively in the M1 and
At mid 1999 it was created an institution M2 motors.
in the Universidade Estadual de Londrina
called “Núcleo de Atividades Aeroespaciais”
- NATA, with the same GFE objectives but
now with students and teachers from the MOTOR DESIGN1
university.
The first project was an experimental
Chamber Pressure, Pc
rocket that would carry diverse instruments.
The general characteristics was a 12 Kg It is designed the initial chamber pressure
loaded rocket with an apogee about 2000 as it was expected the thrust curve to be
meters. This led to an 3000 Ns motor. This regressive as it was the same grain – motor
motor would serve both NATA and GFE geometry predecessor motors M1 and M2.
group. The initial chamber pressure was choused as
20 Kgf/cm2.
As the objectives of both groups is to give
a hands-on experience to the students on Grain
space area the motor would fulfill some It was decided to use an unrestricted
requirements: single hollow charge. Measurements of the
No hazard propellant manipulations. specific impulse of this propellant in the M1
As the propellant was going to be motor led to the value of 78 seconds.
manufactured by the students a safe and The mass of the propellant, mp can be
non toxic materials was a necessity as we calculated by:
do not have specialized laboratory
installations;
mp= It/(Is .g) (1)
Reliable. The manufacturing process
must have not much restrictive properties
margins as it was not going to be made where:
by specialized professionals; It = Total impulse (N.s)
Low cost. It would permit a great Is = Specific impulse (s)
number of tests and launches without g = Gravitational constant (m/s2)
excessive propellant costs.
Reusable. The motor hardware must
Using It = 3200 N.s and Is = 78 s we get
permit a great number of firing.
from equation (1) a total mass of 4.180 Kg
No ambient aggression. The burning of propellant. Using propellant density value
gasses would have no toxic or ambient of 1.73 g/cm3 a grain was calculated:
aggression characteristics.
2
External Diameter: 79 mm Gas mass flow, mg
Internal Diameter: 10 mm
Length: 51 mm The gas mass flow that passes through the
Burning Area: 1,402.25 cm2 nozzle is
mg = X . r.. Ab (4)
Initial linear burning rate where:
Mass fraction of gasses in the exhaust,
Using a correlation from STANCATO, X = 0.7894 (STANCATO, 1997)2
19972: Eroding burning rate, r = 0.4694 cm/s
ro = 0,0728 . Pc 0,5098 (2) Propellant specific mass, = 1.73
where: g/cm3
ro = linear burning rate (cm/s) Burning area, Ab = 1,402.25 cm2
Pc = Chamber Pressure (Kgf/cm2)
From equation (4) and the above values,
Using a chamber pressure of 20 Kgf/cm ,2 the mg= 0.899 Kg/s.
from equation (2) we have a burning rate of
0.3353 cm/s. Throat Area, At
3
Motor designing considerations p R f yk
e s
The motor wall thickness was calculated
using simplified criteria of Strength of pRs
Materials for cylindrical tanks submitted to e
f yk
internal pressure, within the elastic limit.
Discontinuity stresses – additional stresses
( 2,026 E 6) ( 4,8 E 2) (7)
in edge junctions due to deformations of e
(350 E 6)
cylinder radius and of closing cover – were
e 1,94mm e 2mm
unconsidered in calculation. Longitudinal
Fig. 1. Schematic motor drawing
stresses are not dependent on edges shape
and were half of circumferential stresses.
Therefore, circumferential stresses are
PROPELLANT MANUFACTURING
the main and it values3:
pR
(6) The following are the steps for
e manufacturing the propellant which will be
used for testing and launching:
where:
pounding the sodium nitrate
p = chamber internal pressure;
mixing and to drying the mixture of
R = external radius of motor cylinder;
sodium nitrate and with sugar
e = thickness of wall;
Melting and molding the caramel
Data:
Pounding the sodium nitrate
Carbon steel ST-51;
Materials used: blender, pestle and moar,
Yield strength of steel fyk= 350 MPa;
pan, long glass rod, paper for pan cleaning
Internal pressure of project
and drying, knife to open the packs of
= 20 Kgf/cm2 (2,026 MPa);
sodium nitrate.
Cylinder radius R = 48 mm;
safety factor adopted s = 7;
Preparing the mixture
from equation (6):
The proportion used in the compound was
60% of sodium nitrate (NaNO3 –
combustible) and 40% of sacarose
(oxidant)4. From 5 Kg of material used, there
were 3 Kg of Sodium Nitrate and 2 Kg of
refined sugar. The nitrate was pounded
using a blender. The powder portion was put
inside a pan. The grains that still remained
A
together were pounded in the moar with the
pestle. The powder of sodium nitrate retains
humidity very easy and part of it remained
102
96
45,7
A
Screw M-10
it was used the long glass rod.
614,5
Units in mm
4
View AA
2mm
Mixing and drying the sodium nitrate with aluminum foil to insulate it and to avoid the
sugar absorption of humidity during the
solidification process.
Procedures: it was used a digital balance
to check the compound ingredients mass
(3kg of sodium nitrate and 2 kg of refined ROCKET MOTOR STATIC TESTING
sugar). Both of them were put into a pan for
mixing. It was used a mechanic mixer to
have a better homogenization of the To obtain an estimate of the maximum
combustible and the oxidant. The humid thrust, a simple, highly portable and
mass of the sodium nitrate and sugar was protected bench was constructed in steel
5012 g. with 4 mm thickness. The axial and vertical
The mixture was taken into a stove where motor movement was allowed to avoid
it stayed for approximately 2 hours under a secondary forces interference in the test.
temperature of 800. Then it was put again in
the mechanic mixer, and right after that the
mixture were passed through a 16 sieve. The
portion retained in the sieve was pounded
with the flat head pestle.
5
becomes a digital word and can be sent to
the computer through parallel interface. The
next step the software reads the measured
points and shows them into a adequate
physical amount on a display. In this essay,
A Signal acquisition system based on the the related physical amount were force given
system ADS2000 is shown in fig.4 . In such in Kilogram-force and elapsed time given in
scheme the motor applies force down over a seconds. The software also features handling
load cell as the propellant burns. The and showing data capability allowing the
exerted force over the load cell strain the user to get information concerning the
gages and a small voltage signal subject under investigation.
proportional to the strength is generated by The figure 5 shows a kind of connecting
the load cell. The amplitude of this signal the load cell to the AI2160 input. Note the
varies in mV range. A next signal Whetstone configuration used. As the range
conditioner amplifies the generated signal to of applied strength gets up to one thousand
a suitable amplitude before applying it to the of Kilogram-Force, the electrical equivalent
A/D interface. Another signal adjustments output varies into some dozens of milivolts
are also carried out by the Signal range when 10 V supply is used. An
Conditioner as filtering and galvanic additional signal amplification of 600 can be
isolation. In such arrangement only one of set by the user provided in the AI2160
the AI2160 channels is used. control adjusts to the present experiment.
Interface A/D
A
AC2120
D S
S Y
Device S
2 T
0 E Fig. 5. Connecting the load cell to the Conditioner
Signal 0 M
Conditioner 0
AI2160 As result of such arrangement an output
Strains
electrical signal ranging between 0 and 5 V
is therefore sent to the A/D Interface. After
Fig. 4. Signal Acquisition System conversion and sending data through parallel
interface to the computer the software sets
The A/D interface converts the well-fitted the scale factor so the physical amounts can
input analog signal into binary format that be read out directly on graphic displays as
can be recognized by a computer-based shown in figure 6. To do so a calibration
system. The 12-bits conversion process process should be carried out before the
based on successive-approach scheme fits all experiment takes place.
the requirements concerned to conversion
time allowing time-variable signals as fast as
by tens of KHz being sampled. In such
essay the sampling rate was 5000 points a
second, a good agreement between results
accuracy and file storage size on a computer Fig. 6. Visualizing a physical amount time-varying
in events up to some dozens lasting. Such waveform
sampling rates prevents also the aliasing
effect. After signal conversion the electrical Calibration Process: After properly
equivalent input acquired from the load cell operation of the acquisition system a
6
calibration process can be launched prior the
beginning of the experiment. The goal of
this process relies on setting both an upper
and lower physical amount in accordance
with the signal range sent to the A/D Fig. 8. Window for calibration
converter so an adequate display of the
physical amount (e.g. Force) can be read out
as shown in figure 7. Thrust-time curve
7
MOTOR THRUST FROM FLIGHT
ANALYSIS CD Av 2
FD (9)
2
The idea of constructing the engine thrust where5:
curve (of motor M3) from data of flight
appeared with the launch of Cabral rocket. CD = drag coefficient;
2.6 m long, weighting 14.185 Kg, 10 cm of = air density (Kg/m3);
diameter, 4.135 Kg of propellant mass,
A = sectional area (m2);
Cabral got an apogee of 1,900 m. Cabral
v = velocity (m/s);
rocket flew in April 24 of 2000. There was
an onboard system to acquire acceleration,
and
velocity and altitude data of all flight.
1,2308 e ( 0.000101741h ) (10)
where5:
h = altitude (m);
a
mconst 0
tf
m prop (11)
a
0
where:
mconst = consumed mass until
Fig. 10. Cabral’s lift-off
time t (Kg)
t
8
Engine thrust (N) 3. TIMOSHENKO, Stephen P., “Strength of
1400 Materials”, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.,
1930
1000
600
sugar propellant.” A Workinggroup
200
Propulsion publication, 1978.
-200
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
5. ROBERSON, John A., CROWE, Clayton T.,
time (s)
“Engineering Fluid Mechanics”, Houghton
Fig. 11. Motor thrust curve of M3 from Cabral’s Mifflin Company, 1975.
flight
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES