Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857

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Aerospace Science and Technology

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Resistojet thruster with supercapacitor power source – design and

experimental research
Jan Kindracki ∗ , Przemysław Paszkiewicz, Łukasz Me˛ żyk
Institute of Heat Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 21/25, 00-665 Warsaw, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The paper presents the design of and experimental research on a resistojet thruster with a dedicated
Received 8 October 2018 power supply system based on supercapacitors. First, the description of two research stands used in
Received in revised form 27 June 2019 different stages of the research is presented. The experimental approach divides the research into two
Accepted 3 July 2019
phases. The first part focuses on optimization of the heating chamber, which has a laboratory power
Available online 10 July 2019
supply as a power source. Seven configurations of the chamber – differing in the number of coaxial
Keywords: channels and spiral heaters – are presented together with the results of the optimization process.
Satellite propulsion The second stage describes research into thruster-like conditions with both power supply systems –
Resistojet supercapacitor based and with a laboratory power supply – with the geometry chosen based on the
Attitude control system optimization process. A comparison is presented of propulsion parameters for various pre-heating times,
power levels and power supply types, with a cold gas system as a reference.
© 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Electrically powered propulsion systems are of essentially three
types, namely: electrothermal, electrostatic and electrodynamic [1].
In an electrothermal thruster, electric energy is used to increase
the temperature of the fluid that acts as a working medium. There
are two solutions in this group. The first one is the arcjet, in which
fluid is heated while flowing through an electric arc [2]. The sec-
ond is the resistojet, which is dealt with directly in this work. In
a resistojet thruster, propellant passes through a heat exchanger
in which the temperature of the medium increases rapidly due
to heat delivered by an electric resistive heater element [3]. Var-
ious fluids may be employed, e.g. gases such as O2 , H2 O, CO2 ,
NH3 , N2 , or hydrazine decomposition products, some spacecraft
waste products may be used as well (e.g. water). What is more,
the same resistojet system can be used with various propellants
[4]. As the use of electric propulsion is now on an upward trend,
the authors in [5] presented the development results of two re-
sistojet thrusters with 50 W and 100 W power, using Xe and Kr
and operating in both hot and cold gas modes. In [6] a butane
resistojet was proposed which delivered thrust of 50 to 60 mN,
with 10 minutes required to warm up at 15 W. This solution does
not require high-pressure tanks and is well suited for small size
satellites. In [7] a concept of an ice-propelled micro-resistojet is
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jan.kindracki@pw.edu.pl (J. Kindracki).
presented. In this case the pressure inside the system is lower
than 600 Pa and seems to be attractive for nano-satellites. Romei
et al. [8] presented a process for manufacturing high temperature
resistojet heat exchangers using the additive manufacturing tech-
nique (selective laser melting). The models were made from AISI
316L and were a first attempt at producing a single-piece heat ex-
changer for the resistojet thruster.
Lately, growing interest is observed in applying supercapaci-
tors for space applications. Supercapacitors (also called electrical
double layer capacitors, ultracapacitors or electrochemical capaci-
tors) store electric charge within the double-layer that is formed
between electrodes of high surface and an electrolyte [9,10]. The
most recognizable features of electrochemical capacitors are re-
markably high power density of several tens of kW/kg [11] and
short charge and discharge times [12]. Since they can deliver very
high power pulses resulting in only moderate temperature rises
[13], the use of double layer capacitors is advantageous in appli-
cations requiring short duration but high power peaks [14]. Other
issues are: the ability to operate in a wide temperature range of
about −40 ◦ C to 70 ◦ C and the ability to withstand a great num-
ber of cycles (>106 ) [13]. Typical applications for supercapacitors
include for example electric vehicles, power generation plants and
energy power supplies [15]. They are also considered in electro-
mechanical and electro-hydrostatic flight control actuation systems
[14], and as a source of energy for pyrotechnic mechanisms [16]
and high power radars [12]. The technology, on the other hand,
suffers from low energy density; on that account, it is beneficial to
hybridize the system and complement Li-ion batteries with super-

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2019.07.010
1270-9638/© 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
848 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857
capacitors for high power applications [17]. Tests were performed
which proved that commercial, off-the-shelf supercapacitors are
capable of withstanding vacuum exposure and proton and gamma
irradiation. In [18], on the basis of the tests performed, the au-
thors came to the conclusion that no significant change occurred
in terms of capacitance and equivalent series resistance deviation
for gamma irradiation doses of up to 200 krad (Si) and proton irra-
diation of up to 2 Mrad (Si). In [11] and [13] tests were performed,
which proved that exposure to vacuum resulted in no significant
performance degradation (products from different vendors were
tested). Worth mentioning is the fact that works are underway to
implement 3D printing technology into supercapacitor production
[15,19], as well as develop novel electrode materials [20,21]. This
paper describes research on a resistojet thruster with dedicated
power supply system based on supercapacitors, done at Warsaw
University of Technology.
2. The research facility
Two research stands were used during the experimental cam-
paign: one for optimizing heater geometry and performance, the
other for measuring thruster performance. The first research stand
consists of a heating chamber (HC), sonic nozzle, gas supply sys-
tem, electrical power charging system and measurement system.
A view of the stand is presented in Fig. 1. Three different ba-
sic geometrical configurations – organization of the working gas
flow in the heating chamber – were investigated. Additionally, tak-
ing into account the number of heaters, their various resistances
and connection types (serial or parallel) 7 experimental cases were
investigated, whose parameters are described in Table 1. In each
configuration, use was made of the same sensors for pressure and
temperature measurements, placed in the same locations. The in-
crease in temperature and pressure losses in the heating chamber
were calculated based on experimental data. A K-type thermocou-
ple with an exposed measurement junction was used during the
research, to cut the response time of temperature measurement.
For pressure measurement, a Keller PAA-23 absolute pressure sen-
sor was applied. In order to obtain thruster-like conditions (pres-
sure, mass flow rate) in the heating chamber the sonic orifice was
integrated with the chamber outlet. Full nozzle was not required
at this stage of the research. The mass flow rate of working gas
was calculated based on the pressure drop on the Venturi tube.
Air was used at this stage of the research, despite the fact that
nitrogen is the dedicated working medium for the thruster. As the
laboratory is equipped with an air pressure installation, air is much
more readily available than nitrogen. Since the gases are very sim-
ilar, this change should not affect the final results. The thermal
properties of both gases are very similar and for chamber pressure
of 10 bar and a temperature range of 300 to 600 K, the differ-
ences for specific heat and thermal conductivity do not exceed 3%
and 6.4% respectively. Propulsion performance is also very similar
– the difference between those gases is approximately 1.6%.
Depending on the configuration, the heating chamber consists
of one, two or three flowing channels. One or two of them are
equipped with an electrical heater made of heating wire. The wire
consists of a resistive element surrounded by the electrical in-
sulation and enclosed in a casing made of Inconel. The external
diameter of the wire is 1 mm and its resistivity is 9 /m. It is able
to withstand a temperature of 1000 ◦ C. The flexible construction of
the wire lends itself means almost any shape of a heater can be
created which gives a large degree of latitude as to heater shapes,
with bending radius being the only limitation.
The second research stand consists of four main elements: en-
gine, gas feeding system, electrical power system and measure-
ment system. The engine has three main parts: a heating cham-
ber with a convergent-divergent nozzle designed for atmospheric
Fig. 1. View of the research stand for heater performance optimization: 1 – heater
chamber, 2 – gas feed connections, 3 – electrical connections.
conditions, an electromagnetic valve for working gas flow con-
trol and thermal isolation used to decrease the heat flux from
the heating chamber to the ambient. All the parts of the thruster
are made of 316 AISI stainless steel. The gas feeding system in-
cludes a gas accumulator, pressure regulator, Venturi orifice and
filters. For precise control of the flow, measurements were taken
of pressure and temperature at the inlet line and differential pres-
sure in Venturi orifice. Two types of electrical power systems
were used – one based on the regulated laboratory power sup-
ply and the other on supercapacitors – connected according to
experimental needs. Both were equipped with control and mea-
surement units giving the possibility of precise control over the
power level and start-stop timing together with information about
the current and the voltage delivered to the heater. To measure
the parameters of the flow and performance of thruster pressure
sensors (Keller PAA-23, PD-23), thermocouples (Czaki, type K) and
a force transducer (Kistler 9205) were used. The acquisition sys-
tem was based on a National Instruments USB 5269 measurement
card with dedicated, in-house software, giving automatic control
over the stand and assuring high repeatability of the experiments.
In order to measure the thrust, a baffle plate method was used.
In this method, the flat plate hanging freely on an axis of revolu-
tion supported by a low friction bearing is placed in the stream
of exhaust gases. By changing the exhaust gases velocity vector by
90 degrees an impinging force is created and transferred to the
force transducer placed directly behind the plate. The force, which
equals the thrust produced by the engine, is recorded by the mea-
surement system. To avoid oscillations of the plate an initial force
is introduced by the plate to the transducer. A schematic of the
stand is presented in Fig. 2 and a view given in Fig. 3.
3. Experimental results
One of the key parameters of a rocket thruster is specific im-
pulse (I sp ), which describes the thrust that can be delivered from
a unitary propellant mass flow rate. It means that the higher the
specific impulse, the lower the propellant mass flow rate required
to produce a certain level of thrust. The practical profit of that is
that it lowers the required mass and hence the cost of the mis-
sion. In a resistojet thruster, delivering the energy to the gas in the
form of heat increases the specific impulse compared to the cold
gas system. The value of I sp also depends on the nozzle expan-
sion ratio. The theoretical behavior of specific impulse and mass
flow rate of nitrogen with rising gas temperature is presented in
Fig. 4 for two nozzle expansion ratios – laboratory and vacuum
 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857 849

Fig. 2. Schematic chart of the research stand for thrust measurement: 1 – ball valve, 2 – pressure regulator, 3 – pressure in the feeding line (in front of the Venturi), 4 –
Venturi tube, 5 – electromagnetic valve, 6 – pressure before the heater, 7 – laboratory power supply or supercapacitors (based on needs), 8 – temperature before the heater,
9 – temperature after the heater, 10 – insulated thruster, 11 – pressure at the nozzle inlet, 12 – baffle plate measurement system.

equipped with a single channel with a spiral heater inside. In the

Fig. 3. View of the research stand for thrust measurements: 1 – resistojet engine, 2
– control valve, 3 – thermal isolator between thruster and control valve, 4 – force
sensor, 5 – pressure sensor connectors, 6 – thermocouple connectors, 7 – baffle
plate.
conditions. A temperature increase of about 400 degrees causes an
increase in specific impulse of about 52% and a decrease in mass
flow rate of about 35% theoretically.
As mentioned before, for laboratory research nitrogen was re-
placed with pressurized air and investigated with various config-
urations of heating chamber. First, the basic geometry (HC1) was
second construction (HC2) an additional channel without a heater
was added to recover the heat, normally lost through the casing of
the heating channel. The next step (CH3) was to use three flowing
channels – two equipped with a heater and one “recovery” chan-
nel. For this geometry different configurations – length of channels,
heaters resistivity and connection type (serial or parallel) – were
tested. Models of all geometries are presented in Fig. 5 and the
detailed data is in Table 1.
The research stands control system gives a possibility to in-
troduce a time shift between starting the heater and opening
the feeding valve. It gives an opportunity to preheat the cham-
ber before the gaseous propellant is delivered, which increases the
dynamics of the chamber but also raises the risk of overheating
the heater. Safe operation in such a mode requires timing opti-
mization. The preheating process is the first phase of operation
– not always required. The second phase – the active one, when
the heater was on and energy was delivered into the flowing gas,
lasted for 20–25 s. It was followed by the 30 s passive phase when
the heater was inactive but the control valve was still open. Dur-
ing that phase, the air flow cooled the chamber down to initial
conditions, to increase the repeatability of results. The time sched-
ule of the exemplary experiment is presented in Fig. 6. In this
experiment, a time delay (t delay ) was introduced between heater
activation (t heat-i ) and the valve opening time (t flow-i ). The temper-
ature started to rise even without the flow (passive heating), due
to the heating of the chamber walls and air accumulated inside the
chamber. When the valve opens, the gas temperature (red line)
rapidly rises and after achieving a high peak value it decreases

Fig. 4. Theoretical calculations of specific impulse and mass flow rate as a function of the working medium (nitrogen) temperature. Chamber pressure was 10 bar, thrust
700 mN, solid curve – pressure ratio 10, dotted curve – pressure ratio 120.
850 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857

Fig. 5. Possible configurations of heating chamber (HC): a) HC1: one channel and one heater; b) HC2: two channels and one heater; c) HC3: three channels and two heaters.

Table 1
Description of various configurations of heating chamber of the resistojet thruster.

Case no Heating chamber Length of the Heater resistance Voltage range Type of heater Additional Power Time delay between
configuration channel [mm] [] [V] connection description supply heat and flow [s]
Case 1 HC1 39 6.3 30–45 – – LPS* Range 0-2
Case 2 HC2 20 2.7 25–32.5 – – LPS* Range 0-2
Case 3 HC2 20 2.3 25–32.5 – one ceramic wall LPS* Range 0-2
Case 4 HC3 40 10.4 + 4.7 30–40 parallel – LPS* Range 0-2
Case 5 HC3 40 5.3 + 4.7 30–40 parallel – LPS* Range 0-2
Case 6 HC3 20 3.0 + 2.5 20–30 parallel – LPS* Range 0-2
Case 7 HC3 20 3.0 + 2.5 50–60 serial – LPS* Range 0-2
Case 8 HC3 20 3.0 + 2.5 30 parallel – SCPS** 0.5
Case 9 HC3 20 3.0 + 2.5 30 parallel – SCPS** 1.0
Case 10 HC3 20 3.0 + 2.5 30 parallel – SCPS** 1.5
Case 11 HC3 20 3.0 + 2.5 30 parallel – SCPS** 2.0
Case 12 HC3 20 3.0 + 2.5 33,3 parallel – LPS* 1.0
*
LPS – Laboratory Power Source.
**
SCPS – Super Capacitors Power Source.

Fig. 6. The course of thermodynamic parameters at the heating chamber outlet and trigger timing during the typical experiment: t heat-i – heating start time; t heat-f – heating
stop time; t flow-i – flow start time; t flow-f – flow stop time; t delay – delay time between heating and flow start time. (For interpretation of the colors in the figure(s), the
reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857
Fig. 7. The experimental course of the temperature at the heating chamber outlet
for different delay time (t delay ). Theoretical electrical power was 254 W, pressure in
the chamber 10 bar (case 1).
Fig. 9. Value of power demand coefficient C EPD for all experiments in the heater chamber optimization process.
slightly, stabilizing at the quasi-steady state (QSS) level. The power
supply is switched off, followed by the cooling phase which re-
turns the conditions to the initial ones. It was noticed that the
exact time between opening the valve and obtaining QSS is mainly
related to heater construction and t delay . Optimization was carried
out to improve the dynamics and efficiency of the heating cham-
ber.
3.1. Heater optimization
Fig. 7 presents an exemplary set of experimental results of gas
temperature measurements for the heater construction described
as “case 1” (see Table 1). For every presented experiment the
power level and total heating time (20 s) were the same and dif-
ferent characters of temperature behavior are related only to t delay .
For short time delays, like 1–2 s, the temperature rises slowly and
does not reach QSS in the considered time of operation. Higher
t delays (4–5 s) increase the heating dynamics – the temperature
rises faster, achieving QSS earlier with rising t delay value. It should
be borne in mind that during the preheating period, when the gas
flow does not receive heat from the heater, there is a risk of it
being damaged by overheating. That is why the maximum t delay ,
safe from the thermal strength of the heater, should be found and
never exceeded. The effect of increasing power with a common
time delay (equal 0 s) is presented in Fig. 8. As expected QSS tem-
perature increases with rising power level. At the same time, the
rising temperature does not influence the dynamics of the heater –
851
Fig. 8. The experimental course of the temperature at the heating chamber outlet
for electrical power. Delay time was t delay = 0 s, pressure in the chamber 10 bar
(case 2).
QSS is obtained at approximately the same time regardless of the
power level.
Since the tested cases differ in construction, power levels, mass
flow rates, etc. it is impossible to compare them directly. Coeffi-
cient C EPD which expresses the power demand for heating up the
unit of mass of flowing gas in one second by a single Celsius de-
gree is used for that reason due to its ability to combine all the
variables.
P
C EPD =
 T · ṁ
P – electrical power supplied to chamber [W]
 T – temperature increase due to heating [◦ C]
m – propellant mass flow rate [kg/s]
The unit of such a coefficient is W s/(◦ C kg). Comparing all
cases, the one with the lowest C EPD should be the most effective,
since the lowest power is required to obtain the same thermo-
dynamic effect. The summary of C EPD for all experiments during
the optimization process is shown in Fig. 9. Based on that, the
most effective configuration case 7, characterized by C EPD in the
range of 1700–950 W s/(◦ C kg). Heat transfer efficiency was used
as a second comparative parameter and was calculated as a ratio
of gas energy increase to energy delivered from the power sup-
ply. It takes into account two phenomena: conversion of electrical
energy into thermal energy together with heat transfer between
the heater and working medium. Based on the data presented in
Fig. 10, the highest efficiency is again delivered by case number
852 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857
Fig. 10. Heating chamber gas temperature increase: measured value against theory – heat exchange efficiency. Continuous lines mean different efficiency value.
Table 2
Advantages and disadvantages of supercapacitors.
Advantages
• Very high power density – over 10000 W/kg
• Wide range of operating temperatures −40 ◦ C ÷ 70 ◦ C
• Very high capacitances – even over the 5000 F
• Low internal resistance – even less than 0.3 m
• High efficiency – over 95%
• High lifetime – over 1 million cycles or 20 years
• Maintenance – free – low operational costs
• Low properties degradation
• Environmental friendly
7. Outlet temperature obtained in that configuration was also rel-
atively high – about 350 ◦ C. It is worth noticing that the simplest
geometry – case 1 – also presents high efficiency but for a signif-
icantly lower temperature range. It is connected with heat losses
through the chamber walls. Any further increase in temperature
would require more power, which in turn requires longer geometry
and that generates more losses. The best geometry from the heat
loss point of view would be one with a low area-to-volume ratio.
This is characteristic for case 7 and so that was the one chosen
as the final geometry of a heating chamber for resistojet thruster
application.
3.2. Supercapacitor charger
One of the most important issues pertaining to a thruster op-
erating in a short time – “pulse mode” – is the very fast heating
of the working gas. The power supply needs to be able to release
high energy into the gas in a short period. On the other hand, it
should not significantly impact a spacecraft power system or other
onboard subsystems. The idea proposed in this research is to use
a power supply dedicated specifically to thrusters based on su-
percapacitors which should be able to meet those requirements.
Supercapacitors store energy and release it very quickly with high
current due to small internal resistance, which provides for the
possibility to obtain high power for a short period of time. Su-
percapacitors, also called as ultracapacitors or electric double-layer
capacitors (EDLC), collect the charge at the interface between the
surface of the conductive electrode and the electrolyte and use the
appearance of the Helmholtz double layer. The first model for the
distribution of ions near the surface of a metal electrode was de-
vised in 1874 by Hermann von Helmholtz [22]. More information
Disadvantages
• Relatively expensive
• Low energy density compared to chemical batteries (40 Wh/kg)
• Low available voltage of a single capacitor (2.7 V)
• Exponentially lowering value of voltage during discharge
about the design, technology, and materials regarding the super-
capacitors can be found in papers by Halper and Ellenbogen [23]
and Namisnyk [24]. A typical single supercapacitor achieved maxi-
mum voltage of 2.0–2.8 V and for most practical applications they
have to be connected serially. A summary of the advantages and
disadvantages of supercapacitors is presented in Table 2.
Taking all advantages and disadvantages into account superca-
pacitors seem to be the perfect solution for resistojet applications
for small satellites, as highlighted by Shimizu and Underwood [25].
The concept of the resistojet thruster with a dedicated power sup-
ply based on supercapacitors in the paper is presented in Fig. 11
and can be described as follows:
• The system remains in standby mode during normal flight,
supercapacitors are charged by the spacecraft electric power
system, using low power when available.
• To power the thruster by the supercapacitors alone, they are
disconnected from charging system before the thrusters start
and work independently.
• During the operation of the thruster, the supercapacitors’
power supply is rapidly discharged by the resistance of the
heater circuit.
• After switching off, the supercapacitors are reconnected to the
charging system and recharged.
Based on those ideas a power supply system was built using
LSUC supercapacitors. Each of them has a capacitance of 350 F
and can deliver a maximum voltage of 2.8 V. The whole bank con-
sists of a 30 supercapacitor group in two sets, in serial or parallel
connection depending on the needs, which gives maximum output
 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857 853

Fig. 11. Scheme of the resistojet thruster system with dedicated power supply system.

pacitors (case 9). For these exemplary experiments, a 1 s delay

Fig. 12. View of the bank of the supercapacitors.
voltage of 84 V or 42 V respectively. The bank of supercapacitors
is shown in Fig. 12.
Using a developed power supply system, some preliminary ex-
periments were conducted. To conduct the experiments the com-
bination of a three channel chamber with two heaters in parallel
connection (HC3 configuration) heated by a 30 V power supply
was chosen. Fig. 13 presents a comparison between the laboratory
power supply (case 12) and the power supply based on superca-
time between power at the start of the flow was used. As can be
noticed, the thrust of the engine remains the same regardless of
the power source, which is as expected. Since one of the sources
is based on the capacitors, the character of delivering the energy
into the heater differs – for the laboratory power supply, the volt-
age is constant, in contrast to the capacitors-based power supply
in which the voltage drops constantly as the capacitors discharge.
For this reason, a lower amount of total energy is delivered by the
capacitors source (1031 J versus 1130 J in the case of the labora-
tory power supply) which has a direct influence on the mass flow
rate through the thruster. Comparing the mass flow rate for both
power sources it is noticeable that for the capacitors power sup-
ply the mass flow rate is higher and for similar thrust the specific
impulse delivered is lower. However, it needs to be remembered
that those two sources cannot be compared for propulsion param-
eters, since the laboratory power supply is constantly connected to
a 230 V electrical network and does not store energy but only con-
verts it. A more reasonable comparison would be between classic
accumulators (e.g. Li-Ion) and supercapacitors, which is planned in
the near future.

Fig. 13. Influence of the power supply type on measured parameters of the engine.
854 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857

Fig. 14. Experimental results for supercapacitor power supply system with different time delays.

Fig. 14 presents a comparison between four experiments with

different time delays. Again, the thrust remains the same for all
the experiments as well as electrical power. It is noticeable that
for rising time shift, the efficiency rises together with “gas heat
power” (energy accumulated in the flow due to electrical power
supped through the heater).

3.3. Final design

The final design of the resistojet thruster consists of three main

sections: heating chamber (HC), thermal isolator and control valve.
The heating chamber has three channels – two of them equipped
with a heater and the third (the most external) used as a heat re-
covery channel. Working fluid is delivered into the external chan-
nel at the back of the thruster and is forced to move into the
direction of the nozzle where it enters the second channel and the
flow direction is changed by 180◦ . After getting into the end of the
second channel working medium enters the third one – the most
internal – and after changing the flow direction one more time, it
is delivered into the nozzle and produces thrust while expanding.
Due to the assumption of working only in laboratory conditions,
the nozzle expands hot gases into atmospheric pressure, but it may
be easily changed by replacing the nozzle adjusted to other condi-
tions – e.g. vacuum of space. To improve the heat transfer inside
the heating chamber, most of the walls were manufactured with
deliberately introduced incisions, increasing the roughness coeffi-
cient, which also increase the turbulence level inside the channels.
Based on experience, the electrical connection between the heater
and cooper wire delivering the energy was found to be the most
critical spot from the durability point of view. To protect this spot
from overheating, the gas flow was organized to flow in direct
contact with the connectors and intensively cool them, which com-
plicates the construction but significantly improves the parameters
of the heater. Also, the control valve was protected from exces-
sive temperature by introducing some distance between the valve
and heating chamber. Special thermal insulator, in the form of a
30 mm cylinder with elliptical holes, was designed to limit the
heat transfer into the valve. The distance raises another problem –
the pneumatic connection between the valve and HC – which was
solved by using a small diameter pipe fixed to the thruster and
Fig. 15. View of the final design model of the resistojet engine: 1 – heating chamber,
2 – valve thermal isolator, 3 – valve, 4 – electrical connector of the heater, 5 –
feeding line (thermal compensator), 6 – measurement (pressure and temperature)
connector, 7 – isolation layer.
connected with a valve by an element providing a tight but mov-
able connection to compensate for the thermal expansion of the
thrusters’ elements. The model of final version thrusters is pre-
sented in Fig. 15.
3.4. Thrust measurement and specific impulse calculations
The low thrust level generated by the thruster requires an ap-
propriate measurement method to eliminate all external distur-
bances which may have an influence on the measured parameters.
Accordingly, the baffle plate (impulse) method was chosen. As a
measurement sensor, a Kistler 9205 transducer with a range of
0–5 N and a dedicated Kistler 5015 amplifier was used. The ini-
tial load was introduced to the plate before the thruster started,
to dump the oscillations and move the measured values to the up-
per range of the sensor scale – both increase the measurement
accuracy. A typical record of a single experiment is presented in
Fig. 16. The thrust and specific impulse are clearly correlated with
 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857 855

Fig. 16. The course of measured parameters: thrust, the mass flow rate of working gas, heating chamber outlet temperature and calculated: specific impulse during the
typical experiment. Arising thrust time (from 5 to 95% of nominal thrust) is 260 ms (2.07 N/s).

Fig. 17. Influence of delivered electrical power on the specific impulse of the resistojet thruster.

the measured mass flow rate, which is strongly influenced by the
temperature in the chamber. It is visible that in the first 20 s of
the experiment, when the power is on and gas is heated, the mass
flow rate is lowered and the specific impulse and thrust are higher
in comparison to the cold gas period – last 30 s. The influence of
power level delivered into the heater, for the same delay time, is
presented in Fig. 17 with a cold gas mode as a reference. In the
examined range of power levels, the linear correlation between
power delivered and specific impulse was identified (it is clearly
shown in Fig. 19). It was also proved that the heater-valve delay
time has no influence on the maximum value of specific impulse,
but has a major influence on the dynamics of the thruster. For
various delay times, the maximum specific impulse is nearly the
same, but the maximum value is obtained much more quickly for
greater delay times. This can directly translate into higher thruster
performance. This effect is visible in Fig. 18 resulting from higher
heating rates with increasing delay time (see temperature graph in
Fig. 18). Thrusters for typical AOCS system should operate dynam-
ically in short pulses and so the delay time (preheating period)
seems to be advantageous. It needs to be remembered that the
delay time has to be chosen reasonably, due to the risk of over-
heating in the pre-heating stage when the heater is not cooled by
the gas. In the case of using the supercapacitors based power sup-
ply, the delay time also has to be optimized depending on system
capacitance and heater thermal inertia.
As presented before, specific impulse changes in time during
the single experiment. That is why for the purpose of comparing
various setups a mean specific impulse value for every experiment
was calculated from the quasi-state period. They are presented in
Fig. 19 as a function of the temperature-mass flow rate coefficient
(the value was calculated as a ratio of temperature increase and
mass flow rate). Two additional lines added to the discussed figure
represent the theoretical value of specific impulse for a resistojet
thruster working in the same conditions as well as an actual value
of I sp obtained in cold gas mode as a reference. Values obtained
from the research are about 6% lower than the theoretical val-
ues, but the nature of changes with increasing temperature-mass
flow rate coefficient is similar. The highest value of specific im-
856 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857
Fig. 18. Influence of delay time on the specific impulse and outlet area temperature of the heating chamber for resistojet thruster for constant electrical power 230 W.
Fig. 19. Influence of temperature–mass flow rate coefficient on the specific impulse for a different electrical power source.
pulse obtained in resistojet mode is about 28% greater than for
cold gas mode. Fig. 19 contains results for both power sources –
supercapacitors based and regulated laboratory power supply. The
increase in specific impulse with temperature-mass flow rate co-
efficient is similar for both sources. The lower range obtained for
laboratory-based power supply comes from the current limitation
of this source – maximum 20 A compared to 80 A in the superca-
pacitors based source.
4. Summary and conclusions
This paper describes two kinds of experiments: optimization of
a heater for resistojet application and the performance evaluation
of a thruster designed and built based on the most effective heater.
The final design of a thruster is intended for use as an actuator
of AOCS systems of a model of space model tested in the Space
Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Results from the heater optimization deliver a few conclusions
that are useful for the thruster design process:
• Gas heating dynamics are strongly influenced by the initial
temperature of a heater and so a heater-valve delay time
should be introduced. It must be chosen carefully due to the
risk of overheating during the preheating period;
• The power demand coefficient was at its lowest for cases 6
and 7. Both are characterized by separately powered heaters
and short channels, which limit the heat loss;
• Heating efficiency in the range of 60–80% was obtained for
cases 6 and 7 but also for cases 1 and 2 – which are different
in design. This is connected with the power demand coeffi-
cient and organization of the flow inside the heating chamber;
• Increasing the turbulence level by using high roughness chan-
nels leads to better heat transfer between the heater and the
working medium, but also increases the pressure losses.
Evaluation of the performance parameters of the resistojet
thruster built based on the optimized heater proved the thesis
that introducing a heater-valve time improves the dynamics of a
thruster. The study shows that a delay time of 2 seconds reduces
– by approximately 4 seconds – the time required to reach the
steady-state level of specific impulse. This is important since the
AOCS thrusters should operate dynamically. In that stage of the re-
search two power supplies were investigated – one based on the
regulated laboratory power supply and the other based on super-
capacitors. Since the supercapacitors based power supply is able
to operate at higher power levels (due to the higher safe current)
higher specific impulses were also obtained. Specific impulse ob-
tained during the research phase is only 6% lower comparing to the
theoretical value for both power supply types. Increasing the tem-
perature of a working gas in the chamber of about 200 ◦ C per unit
mass flow rate (g/s) leads to an increase in the specific impulse of
the resistojet thruster by up to roughly 28%. That led to the conclu-
sion that, even taking the additional mass of power supply system
into account, replacing the cold gas system with a resistojet system
may extend the satellite’s working life – depending on the class of
satellite – provided the power source is properly chosen. Superca-
pacitors seem to be a promising option, due to their high power
density, cycle durability and other performance.
 J. Kindracki et al. / Aerospace Science and Technology 92 (2019) 847–857
Declaration of Competing Interest
None declared.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Centre for Research
and Development, Poland, project no. PBS3/A3/22/2015.
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