• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.503-506
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• 2009

In this study, we presented the results of static firing tests on the PE/LN2O hybrid rocket motor, which has a thrust of 650 kgf level. Through the early tests, we found that the combustion chamber pressure and the thrust were lower than design values because an actual oxidizer flow rate was less than that expected. In order to complement this result, the methods of decrease of nozzle throat and the increase of oxidizer mass flow rate were conducted in the next experiment, and we studied the combustion phenomena with the experimental results. Also we compared and analyzed a difference of combustion characteristics on scale effect. It show that a sub-scale motor regression rate was a little less than that of a lab-scale motor with the same oxidizer mass flux. Results of this study might be used as a basic data for development of hybrid sounding rocket.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.398-401
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• 2007

The performance characteristics of Polyethylene-Nitrous oxide (PE-N2O) hybrid rocket motor with the variation of the grain geometry was investigated. To compare the performance parameters under the different port number, single and four port grains were used in this study. In order to improve the performance by enhancing mixing between fuel and oxidizer, the fuel grain having the mixing chamber was additionally studied. From the motor firing tests, it is found that the motor having 4-port fuel grain with the mixing chamber showed the highest performance among all cases. Therefore we have confirmed that with only the geometrical change of the fuel grain, it was possible to give quite influential improvement on the motor performance

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.18-25
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• 2014

In this paper, the mechanism of the combustion instability which may occur in a hybrid rocket motor with a diaphragm was studied. And the new design for a hybrid motor grain was suggested. It could increase a regression rate of solid fuel, and reduce a large pressure oscillation in a hybrid rocket motor with a diaphragm. It was confirmed that the main mechanism of a large pressure oscillation was hole-tone, and it was caused by a collision between a diaphragm and a vortex which was generated in a pre-chamber. And 'Stepped Grain' design which had the mechanism for high regression rate in a motor with a diaphragm and could reduce a combustion instability was suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2011

In this study, we tried to improve the thrust control performance through the thrust control combustion experiment of the hybrid rocket. We constructed the system which controls the oxidizer flow by combining a needle valve with a stepping motor and controlling the stepping motor drive according to the thrust control command order. Gas oxygen was used as the oxidizer for two different propellants, PE(Polyethylene), PC(Polycarbonate), respectively. To improve the slow response time and the oscillation phenomenon in the beginning stage of the thrust control combustion experiment, we measured and analyzed the change of the flow speed of the propellant pipe. The revised thrust control combustion experiment showed that the thrust was stably controlled with the margin or error from the thrust command within ${\pm}1$ N.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.197-201
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• 2010

Precise control of oxidizer mass flow rate is important for hybrid rocket thrust control. In this study, oxidizer mass flow rate control system is developed by using stepping motor which is controlled by Labview program. Gox is used for oxidizer and PolyCarbonate, PolyEthylene, and PMMA is used for solid propellant. To suppress thrust oscillation during thrust control experiment, schematics of the experiment is analysised and revised. Results show that thrust oscillation is suppressed successfully.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.262-265
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• 2003

This Study is focused on the instrumenting Hybrid Rocket Motor of ACPL at Konkuk University and researching combustion instability by measuring regression rate versus oxidizer mass flux. In the result of experiment, test fire was moderate and we could acquire data of pressure, thrust, and temperature of combustion chamber. In the future, studying unsteady change of regression rate and pressure characteristic analysis of combustion chamber through hundreds of experiments should be performed. furthermore, researching characteristic velocity by taking a measurement of combustion temperature will be inevitable.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2013

The similarity in internal flow of solid and hybrid rocket suggests that hybrid rocket combustion can be susceptible to instability due to vortex sheddings and their interaction. This study focuses on the evolution of interaction of vortex generated in pre-chamber with other types of vortex in the combustor and the change of combustion characteristics. Baseline and other results tested with disks show that there are five different frequency bands appeared in spectral domain. These include a frequency with thermal lag of solid fuel, vortex shedding due to obstacles such as forward, backward facing step and wall vortices near surface. The comparison of frequency behavior in the cases with disk 1 and 3 reveals that vortex shedding generated in pre-chamber can interact with other types of vortex shedding at a certain condition. The frequency of Helmholtz mode is one of candidates resulting to a resonance when it was excited by other types of oscillation even if this mode was not discernable in baseline test. This selective mechanism of resonance may explain the reason why non-linear combustion instability occurs in hybrid rocket combustion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.233-236
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• 2009

In this study, the characteristic of the hybrid rocket motor with $LN_2O$(Liquid Nitrous oxide) was investigated experimentally. HDPE(High Density PolyEthlene) was used as fuel with different sized single port. When used $LN_2O$, combustion efficiency is lower than using $GN_2O$(Gas Nitrous oxide), because of completeness of vaporization of droplet and mixing. And regression rate was changed by different oxidizer phase. This behavior was considered that flame temperature and combustion of solid fuel front/end surface.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2014

Hybrid rocket displays many different low frequency pressure oscillations during combustion. Thermal lag between solid and gas phase is the primary mechanism to trigger low frequency pressure oscillations of around 10Hz, and Helmholtz or $L^*$ mode also produces other types of low frequency oscillations above 10 Hz which is associated with the change in combustion volume. Since the flow characteristics in hybrid rocket is very similar to those in solid rocket combustion, it is not surprising to observe similar pressure oscillation behaviors. Experimental test shows that combustion pressure suddenly turns into to a big amplitude oscillation around 10Hz then followed by returning to an original pressure level after a short period combustion. Further investigations show that this instability is independent of the change in O/F ratio at all. One of the possible candidates is the vortex shedding dynamics over the backward step in the post combustion chamber. It is required to investigate the low frequency oscillation mechanism in the future study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• v.y2005m4
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• pp.66-71
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• 2005

In this study the regression rate of hybrid rocket fuel has been investigated by two methods. First method is to use swirl injectors for enhancement of regression rate. And second method is the modification of the helical grain deriving improvement of combustion area and generating swirl flow. Tests have been done with PMMA and gaseous oxygen. In this paper the incline angle of the helical grain was varied to find the optimal condition to obtain the max regression rate for a given operational condition.