LIQUID HYDROGEN AS A PROPULSION FUEL,1945-1959

 

Appendix B - Propulsion primer, performance, parameters and units.

 

 

Rocket

 

[279] A typical liquid propellant rocket, as diagrammed by NACA in 1952, is shown by figure 71. It consists of a guidance compartment, payload, fuel tank, oxidant tank, and engine compartment. A gas generator, operated from the main propellants or an auxiliary propellant, drives a turbine which drives pumps to supply fuel and oxidant at pressures of 20 to 40 atmospheres to the thrust chamber. The fuel is usually circulated in a cooling jacket surrounding the nozzle and combustion chamber prior to injection....

 

chart of turbojet thrust developments and useage from 1940 to 1954

[280] Fig. 69. Growth of thrust of turbojet engines. (Adapted from NACA figure, 1953.)

 

cross-sectional drawing of a ramjet engine

Fig. 70. A typical ramjet engine. (NACA figure. 1952.)

 

....and burning. This is called regenerative cooling, for the heat picked up by the coolant fuel is returned to the combustion chamber during combustion. Some fuel-oxidant combinations react spontaneously on initial contact-aniline and nitric acid. for example, as well as all combinations that use fluorine as the oxidizer. Other combinations, such as gasoline-oxygen, alcohol-oxygen, and hydrogen-oxygen,...

 

cross-sectional drawing of a rocket's propulsion system

[281] Fig. 71. A typical liquid-propellant rocket. (NACA figure. 1952.)

 

....require an ignition source, which may be electrical or chemical. The fuel and oxidizer burn in the combustion chamber, and the hot gases expand through the nozzle to produce forward thrust. Because they use concentrated oxidizers, rockets are more compact than air-consuming engines where the oxidizer is gaseous, and diluted 80 percent by nitrogen at that.

PreviousIndexNext