• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.109-115
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• 2011

Development cases of space launch vehicle upper stage engine were studied. HM-7, Vinci, LE-5, RL10 engines are representative upper stage engines of Europe, Japan, and United States. It was realized that upper stage engines were developed with more than two engine test facilities and the development period was 5 to 8 years accompanied with 10~11 engines.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.79-95
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• 2022

Since space exploration began in the 1950s, numerous upper stage engines have been developed and used based on various design concepts. In this paper, information of upper stage engines which developed or developing is analysed and their characteristics and performance are summarized. These days, there are many cases of commercial heavy launch vehicles applying upper stage engines using liquid hydrogen with expander cycle which launched recently. Engines operating by Kerosene seem to be close to its theoretical maximum performance based on past experiences. Meanwhile, engines using methane propellant, which has recently become an issue, are also undergoing many developments because of various advantages. Recently, private companies are actively participating in launch vehicle market, and there are many cases in which the government and companies jointly research of next-generation engine.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.807-808
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• 2010

To insert payload to the orbit over the 200km-altitude using launch vehicle which has 300sec the Isp, multi staging technique for launch is necessary. The range between the sea-level to the transfer orbit about 200~250km is for operation of 1st and 2nd rocket engines and the higher altitude is for propulsion system of the acceleration block and satellite. The upper stage rocket engine should have the high technology for entering the payload into the orbit precisely more than the performance for high thrust level. With this investigation of the upper stage rocket engines which have been used, we want to understand their development trend and prospect which is going to be references for the development of ours.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.159-162
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• 2008

In this study, various cycles of liquid rocket engines were surveyed and specifically gas generator after burning cycle was investigated for upper stage motors. The engines for the upper stage can be categorized into three group based on the cycles and propellants at the diagram. Kerosene engines which adapt the gas generator after burning cycle and are located in the region II, are characterized for high combustion pressure and complexity. This cycle usually needs more than two pumps to use the turbine power efficiently. The fuel line can be divided into the gas generator line and the combustor line, and only the gas generator line is need to be pressured more because the combustion pressure in the gas generator is much higher than that of the combustor. Basically, all the oxidizer goes into the gas generator and than to the combustor, thus the auxiliary LOx pump is not critically necessary. However, for the various reasons, the LOx line requires a booster pump. A gas generator after burning cycle engines produces relatively high specific impuls than that of the open cycle engines. Thus it is suitable for upper stages of launch vehicles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.437-441
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• 2008

A non-toxic Post Boost Stage(PBS) with LOX/Ethanol engine was successfully demonstrated at the Tomioka Facility of IHI Aerospace. IHI Aerospace has researched and developed the nontoxic propulsion systems and the LOX/Ethanol is one of the most attractive non-toxic bipropellant candidates. ${\rho}ISP$ of LOX/Ethanol is higher than ${\rho}ISP$ of the other non-toxic bipropellants as LOX/HC or $LOX/LH_2$. The authors studied the combustion characteristics of LOX/Ethanol propellant with the engine designed for LOX/LNG propellant. Also the injector with a built-in igniter was designed and examined its feasibility, ignition and combustion characteristics. We have demonstrated Post Boost Stage with future LOX/Ethanol engines. This propulsion system is targeted for expandable vehicle upper stage to accelerate delta-V to reach the required orbit. PBS Demonstration Model is designed as a test stand to evaluate feed system for integrated propulsion system and also to demonstrate Integrated Vehicle Health Management(IVHM) technique using local valve control and also valve behavior-monitoring capability.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.107-121
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• 2020

The performance analysis of the small satellites launch vehicle using the electric pump cycle as the upper stage engines was performed. The first stage is the launch vehicle that uses the test launch vehicle of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle II and the second stage employs elecpump cycle engine that uses liquid methane and kerosene (RP-1) as fuel. A model for the mass estimation was presented and the analysis was conducted for the range of thrust of 20 to 40 kN and combustion pressure of 3 to 6 MPa with a nozzle expansion ratio of 60 to 100. The mixture ratio with the maximum velocity increment was calculated and the performance of the LEO and SSO payload were calculated from the stage mass estimation. In both the cases, liquid methane, and RP-1 showed maximum payload for 20 kN thrust, 3 MPa combustion pressure, and the nozzle expansion ratio of 100, with a mixture ratio of 3.49 for liquid methane and 2.75 for RP-1. In addition, the ditching points of the first stage and the fairing in the LEO mission were analyzed using ASTOS.

• Current Industrial and Technological Trends in Aerospace
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.139-149
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• 2011

The combustion chamber and nozzle of a liquid rocket engine need thermal protection against the high temperature combustion gas. The nozzle extension of a high-altitude engine also has to be compatible with high temperature environment and several kinds of cooling methods including gas film cooling, ablative cooling and radiative cooling are used. Especially for an upper-stage nozzle extension having a large expansion ratio, the weight impact on the launcher performance is crucial and it necessitated the development of light-weight refractory material. The present survey on the nozzle extension materials employed in the liquid rocket engines of USA, Russia and European Union has revealed a trend that the heavier metals like stainless steels and titanium alloys are being substituted with light weight carbon fiber or ceramic matrix composite materials.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2024

Adopting an engine igniter with high efficiency and ignition performance is essential for reliable operation of liquid rocket engines. In this study, we developed a spark torch igniter for a 450 N-scale methane-oxygen liquid rocket engine by conducting numerical analyses, igniter manufacturing and validation. Specifically, we conducted a parametric study for maximizing the enthalpy at the igniter exit, specifically by adjusting the mass flow rate, nozzle area ratio, fuel-oxidizer mixture ratio, and the igniter length-to-diameter. The heat transferred via the igniter nozzle exit was computed using 3-dimensional numerical simulations. We also manufactured and tested the igniter based on a deduced design to confirm ignition performance of the designed spark torch igniter. The igniter developed through this study could contribute to the development of practical propulsion systems such as upper-stage engines of small launch vehicles.