Client
U.S.Navy
Project Objectives
- Design and develop a liquid fueled pulsed detonation engine for aerospace applications
- Pulsed detonation engines have the potential to significantly increase the fuel efficiency of aerospace vehicles. This is because a detonation is more thermodynamically efficent as compared to a conventional continuous deflagration burner.
Summary of Project and Results (Non-Confidential)
- Helped with the design and construction of the detonation tube chamber
- Helped build the high voltage ignition and pre-detonation chamber. The pre-detonation chamber utilized a gaseous fuel and geometry modifications to accelerate the detonation formation process.
- Helped build the liquid fuel injection system. This system created a homogeneous distribution of liquid fuel droplets and vapor throughout the detonation tube, during each cycle of the engine.
- Helped build a system to visualize the detonation wave front. The system consisted of a pulsed Nd-YAG laser, laser sheet optics, and a high speed digital camera to capture the scattered light from the wavefront.
- Constructed a system to measure the wave speed of the detonation wave using a series of piezoelectric transducers and a signal processing system
The Prototype Pulsed Detonation Engine in Operation