초록 ▼

A thruster assembly is disclosed which includes a removable filament mounted in a heat exchange cavity which isolates propellant from the filament and transfers energy from the filament to the propellant. The filament may comprise a single winding of wire or may, if desired, comprise a bifilar wound

A thruster assembly is disclosed which includes a removable filament mounted in a heat exchange cavity which isolates propellant from the filament and transfers energy from the filament to the propellant. The filament may comprise a single winding of wire or may, if desired, comprise a bifilar wound helix. Also disclosed are a number of ways of powering the filament including a plurality of power supplies provided for redundancy as well as variability of operation. The thruster assembly housing includes sophisticated heat conduction structure including a tortuous internal heat conduction path which minimizes heat loss from the thruster for a variety of disclosed purposes. Also disclosed is structure for providing energy transfer to propellant both through radiation and emission. Several techniques for improving the performance of the thruster assembly and particularly related to the nozzle structure as well as to the fuel supply structure and heat exchange structure form the main basis for this disclosure. Further, a test bed facility for testing the inventive thruster assembly is set forth.

대표청구항 ▼

An optimized performance thruster assembly comprising: (a) a housing including a first opening and a second opening; (b) a heating element removably mounted in said first opening; (c) a propellant supply conduit extending through wall means defining said housing; (d) nozzle means adjacent said secon

An optimized performance thruster assembly comprising: (a) a housing including a first opening and a second opening; (b) a heating element removably mounted in said first opening; (c) a propellant supply conduit extending through wall means defining said housing; (d) nozzle means adjacent said second opening; (e) propellant supply passageway means conducting propellant from said propellant supply conduit to said nozzle means; (f) heat exchange means for transmitting heat generated by said heating element to said propellant in said propellant supply passageway means and in said nozzle means, said heat exchange means isolating said heating element from direct contact with said propellant; (g) shielding means substantially surrounding said heating element and focusing the majority of heat generated by said heating element in a direction generally toward said nozzle, said shielding means comprising a plurality of discs mounted on said heating element in spaced relation to one another axially along said heating element, said discs being spaced from one another by at least one rod extending through all of said discs and mounted to said heating element, said at least one rod including resilient biasing means thereon resiliently separating adjacent discs, and cylindrical members attached to at least some of said discs, said cylindrical members extending axially of said heating element; and (h) said propellant being expelled out said second opening via said nozzle means to provide thrust.