• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2015

Micro igniter on the glass membrane for MEMS thruster was developed. The stability of the micro igniter by using a glass membrane with a thickness of tens of microns was improved. The micro igniter was fabricated by anisotropic wet etching of photosensitive glass and deposition of Pt/Ti for electric heat coil. The solid propellant was loaded into the propellant chamber without an especial technique due to the high structural stability of the glass membrane. Ignition tests were performed successfully. The minimum ignition delay was 27.5 ms with an ignition energy of 19.3 mJ.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.225-228
• /
• 2007

Micro solid propellant thruster is the most feasible for development with current MEMS. Basic components of micro solid propellant thruster are diverging nozzle, micro igniter, combustion chamber, and solid propellant. Micro nozzles and micro chambers were fabricated using photosensitive glass by anisotropic wet etching technique. Micro Pt heaters on glass membrane which ignited solid propellant were developed. Components of thruster were integrated. Successful ignition was observed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 2007.04a
• /
• pp.91-94
• /
• 2007

The fabrication and firing test of the ignition system for a micro solid propellant thruster are described in the present paper. Pt igniter coil was patterned on the glass membrane that was fabricated by the wet etching process. The thickness of Pt layer was $2000{\AA}$ and the width of igniter pattern was $40{\mu}m$. The thickness and diameter of glass membrane were $15{\mu}m$ and 1 mm, respectively. Ignition test was performed. Successful ignition of HTPB/AP propellant was obtained with an ignition delay of 1.6 s at an input voltage of 12 V. The ignition energy was estimated to be 1.4 J.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.77-84
• /
• 2006

With the development of micro/nano spacecraft, concepts of micro propulsion are introduced for orbit transfer and drag compensation as well as attitude control. Micro solid propellant thruster has been attention as one of possible solution for micro thruster. In this paper, micro solid propellant thruster is introduced and research on basic components of a micro solid propellant thruster is reported. Micro Pt igniter was fabricated through negative patterning and quantitative effect of geometry was estimated. The characteristic of HTPB/AP solid propellant was investigated to measure the homing velocity. A combustion chamber was fabricated by means of anisotropic etching of photosensitive glass. Finally, micro solid propellant thrusters having various geometries were fabricated and tested.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.20-27
• /
• 2022

Hypergolic propellant ignited spontaneously when fuel and oxidizer contact without ignition system. Due to this characteristic, the risk of accidents is high when new propellants are evaluated. Prevention of accidents is very important because the damage can be large when the accident occur. In this work, we proposed non-ignition evaluation method which can replace conventional ignition evaluation method by using microreactor. The reactor was fabricated by MEMS. The heat of reaction as according to fuel and NaBH₄ was estimated. At the condition of highest heat of reaction ignition was observed by drop test.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.42 no.9
• /
• pp.802-808
• /
• 2014

MEMS based solid propellant thruster researched for the purpose of an academic research will be verified at space environment through CubeSat program. For this, the temperature of the MEMS thruster should be within allowable operating temperature range by proper thermal control to prevent the ignition failure caused by ignition time delay and to guarantee the structural safety of the MEMS thruster in the low temperature. In this study, we proposed an effective thermal control strategy, that is to use micro-igniter as a heater and temperature sensor for active thermal control instead of using additional heater. The effectiveness of the strategy has been verified through on-orbit thermal analysis of CubeSats with MEMS thruster.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 2006.11a
• /
• pp.251-254
• /
• 2006

Micro thruster is a key technology in the micro/nano satellite. MSPT has been attracted attention as a one of possible solution for micro thruster MSPT as a systems four components. It is composed of nozzle, igniter, combustion chamber and propellant. This paper surveys varioud MSPTs which have been reported. The model of MSPT arrays for total impulse of 1 mNs is proposed. Combustion chamber is designed and fabricated.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.581-586
• /
• 2008

The MEMS solid propellant thrusters have very low thrust level for applying to the propulsion system of micro/nano satellites or the side jet thruster of smart bombs. In this research, the fabrication possibility of planar type MEMS solid propellant thrusters that have enlarged burning surface area was examined and the safety of the structure of thruster during the firing test was confirmed. The performance of a micro igniter which is the key component of the MEMS solid propellant thruster was estimated by the ANSYS Icepak and evaluated by the experiment. Finally, the thrust was measured by the micro force sensor. The levels of thrust were 300, 600 mN in the case of K=15, 20.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.28 no.10
• /
• pp.1264-1270
• /
• 2004

In this paper research on micro solid propellant thruster is reported. Micro solid propellant thruster has four basic components; micro combustion chamber, micro nozzle, solid propellant and micro igniter. In this research igniter, solid propellant and combustion chamber are focused. Micro igniter was fabricated through typical micromachining and the effect of geometry was evaluated. The characteristic of solid propellant was investigated to observe burning characteristic and to obtain burning velocity. Change of thrust force and the amount of energy loss following scale down at micro combustion chamber were estimated by numerical simulation based on empirical data and through the calculation normalized specific impulses were compared to figure out the efficiency of combustion chamber.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 2003.05a
• /
• pp.147-150
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this research was to develope components of micro solid propellant thruster. Micro solid propellant thruster had four basic components: combustion chamber, nozzle, solid propellant and micro heater for ignition. A performance of micro heater and characteristic of solid propellant was investigated. Micro heater was fabricated by conventional MEMS process and Platinum layer was used for heating element. Effect of geometry parameters on micro heater was tested. The temperature responses of heater with respect to each parameters was compared for a given electrical power. The characteristic of solid propellant(HTPB/AP) was investigated to obtain burning velocity in small chamber. Additionally, a capacity of filling propellant with high viscosity in small chamber was checked to guarantee for the micro fabrication.