Development of a solid propellant microthruster with chamber and nozzle etched on a wafer surface

Zhang, Kaili; Chou, S.K.; Ang, Simon S.

doi:10.1088/0960-1317/14/6/004

Cited by 59 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…The seal comprises of an epoxy or similar material or mechanisms. Also, silicon wafer is used in these micro-thrusters because it improves the ignition efficiency by minimizing the current leakage [42]. In addition to addressing the issue of a lack of control over propellant burn, SPMs avoid additional external-surface-area requirements owing to the use of a traditional nozzle (instead micro-nozzles are distributed over the surface of the spacecraft).…”

Section: Design Considerations and Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Cube-Satellite Propulsion Technologies and Trends

2017

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CubeSats provide a cost effective means to perform scientific and technological studies in space. Due to their affordability, CubeSat technologies have been diversely studied and developed by educational institutions, companies and space organizations all over the world. The CubeSat technology that is surveyed in this paper is the propulsion system. A propulsion system is the primary mobility device of a spacecraft and helps with orbit modifications and attitude control. This paper provides an overview of micro-propulsion technologies that have been developed or are currently being developed for CubeSats. Some of the micro-propulsion technologies listed have also flown as secondary propulsion systems on larger spacecraft. Operating principles and key design considerations for each class of propulsion system are outlined. Finally, the performance factors of micro-propulsion systems have been summarized in terms of: first, a comparison of thrust and specific impulse for all propulsion systems; second, a comparison of power and specific impulse, as also thrust-to-power ratio and specific impulse for electric propulsion systems.

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Section: Design Considerations and Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Cube-Satellite Propulsion Technologies and Trends

2017

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“…Due to the major role played by the igniter in the device functioning, special attention should be paid to its design and to its characteristics in order to achieve a successful ignition. Joule effect microheaters as microigniters have been reported in the literature: polysilicon microheaters thermally insulated from the substrate by means of a thick dielectric membrane [2], polysilicon heaters on a thin dielectric membrane and fabricated by bulk micromachining [11,15], platinum/titanium microheaters on a diaphragm [3] or nickel chromium aluminum copper wire inserted in a slot of the microthruster [4]. All these methods present some drawbacks.…”

Section: E-mail Address: Danickbriand@uninech (D Briand)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their integration in microspacecrafts offers considerable advantages in terms of downscaling, mass and volume reduction as well as mission costs lowering. Several solutions are investigated, such as solid propellant microthrusters [1][2][3][4], cold-gas microthrusters [5,6], field emission electric propulsion (FEEP) [7], bi-or mono-propellant microthrusters [8,9] or vaporising liquid microthrusters [10]. By combining MEMS technology and energetic material science, large quantities of energy can be obtained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability of freestanding polysilicon microheaters to be used as igniters in solid propellant microthrusters

Briand

Pham

Rooij

2007

Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

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This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterisation of surface micromachined polysilicon microheaters to be used as microigniters for micropropulsion applications. The microigniters are heated up by Joule effect and the thermal losses through the substrate are minimised by suspending the microheaters above the substrate. The developed process was compatible with the integration of the nozzle part of the microthruster. The electrical, thermal and mechanical characteristics of the microheaters were studied with the aim of evaluating their reliability. Temperatures up to 470 • C could be reached with an electrical power of 45 mW/beam. The current-voltage relation followed a linear characteristic at low power; at high bias voltages, a drift of the electrical resistance was measured after a few I-V cycles at power higher than 40 mW/beam. The elastic and plastic deformation threshold of the microheaters in operation and their maximum deflection before rupture were measured. The microheaters could dissipate relatively high constant powers for a few minutes to hours. The fabricated microheaters are promising candidates for the ignition of solid propellant microthrusters.

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“…In this study, we selected boron/potassium nitrate propellant (NAB, Nichiyu Giken Kogyo), because NAB has ignition temperature as low as 500 • C, and easily start to burn in vacuum compared to other propellants such as HTPB/AP (hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene/ammonium perchlorate) [7], GAP (glycidyle azide polymer) [6] and ZPP (zirconium perchlorate potassium) [6]. φ 0.7 × 0.9 mm NAB pellets shaped using a punch and dice are inserted to the propellant cylinders.…”

Section: Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, several micro-solid propellant rocket array thrusters composed of many one-shot solid propellant micro-rockets arrayed on a substrate are developed for the attitude control of micro-spacecrafts [2]- [7]. These microsolid propellant rocket array thrusters have following advantages: 1) The system is completed on a substrate and compact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vacuum test of a micro-solid propellant rocket array thruster

Kondo

Tanaka

Habu

et al. 2004

IEICE Electron. Express

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A φ 0.8 mm micro-solid propellant rocket array thruster for simple attitude control of a 10 kg class micro-spacecraft was tested in vacuum. The micro-thruster uses boron/potassium nitrate propellant (NAB), because NAB has ignition temperature as low as 500 • C, and easily start to burn in vacuum. For a half of the rockets, an ignition aid (RK) was also loaded. Ignition was succeeded in vacuum with NAB + RK and NAB. The maximum impulse thrust of 4.6 × 10 −4 Ns, which is approximately a half of our requirement, was obtained with NAB. Compared to NAB, NAB + RK generated lower impulse thrust. The success rate of ignition was as low as 30%, although RK was used. These results suggest that RK has no benefit for the ignition of NAB, and other kinds of ignition aid should be found. Keywords: micro-propulsion, micro-thruster, solid propellant, impulse thrust, ignition aid, MEMS. Classification: Micro-electromechanical systems

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Development of a solid propellant microthruster with chamber and nozzle etched on a wafer surface

Cited by 59 publications

References 11 publications

An Overview of Cube-Satellite Propulsion Technologies and Trends

An Overview of Cube-Satellite Propulsion Technologies and Trends

Reliability of freestanding polysilicon microheaters to be used as igniters in solid propellant microthrusters

Vacuum test of a micro-solid propellant rocket array thruster

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