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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Hybrid Rocket Motor, Zach Arena, Alexander Athougies, Alden Rodulfo Jun 2010

Hybrid Rocket Motor, Zach Arena, Alexander Athougies, Alden Rodulfo

Aerospace Engineering

This project involves the re-design, manufacturing, and testing of the Cal Poly Space System’s 4th iteration of an M-class 98mm hybrid rocket motor. This motor utilizes hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene as fuel with liquid nitrous oxide as the oxidizer. Modeling and analysis was conducted on a 12 port self-impinging swirl injector and fuel manufacturing to improve performance. Several hot and cold flow tests were conducted to validate the analysis and predict performance values. Test results included two test fires resulting in an average of 212 lbf of thrust for 6 seconds with an Isp of 160 seconds and an average thrust of …


Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of An Automotive Turbocharger-Based Gas Turbine Engine, John Kyle Thoma, Daniel Shehan, Benjamin Naravage, Jacob Melvin Jun 2010

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of An Automotive Turbocharger-Based Gas Turbine Engine, John Kyle Thoma, Daniel Shehan, Benjamin Naravage, Jacob Melvin

Aerospace Engineering

A fully-functioning, self-sustaining gas turbine engine was designed and built. The engine was constructed around a Holset HE351 VGT automobile turbocharger, containing compressor and turbine assemblies on a common shaft. Other components of the engine were either purchased or designed and fabricated in-house. During initial testing of the completed engine, the turbocharger, however, was found to have extensive damage to the internal oil seals, and so the project could not be completed as planned. Instead, the combustor design and fabrication was completed for stand-alone testing. The combustion chamber was designed so that the flame tube could be easily changed out …


Valveless Pulsejet Engine, Cory William Kerr, James Robert Reynolds Jun 2010

Valveless Pulsejet Engine, Cory William Kerr, James Robert Reynolds

Aerospace Engineering

The goal of this project is to build a valveless pulsejet based on the Lady Anne model, known as the Focused Wave Engine VIII Twin Stack. This project has two main goals. The first goal is to design and build the valveless pulsejet. This includes machine work on stainless steel to build the engine, as well as modifying copper tubes to serve as a fuel injection system. The second goal is to build a test stand that allows for accurate data collection of the total thrust being produced by the engine and acts as a fuel injection and ignition system. …


Experimental Development Of Compressor And Turbine Performance Maps For Turbomachinery, Michael W. Green Apr 2010

Experimental Development Of Compressor And Turbine Performance Maps For Turbomachinery, Michael W. Green

Aerospace Engineering

Turbomachinery performance maps are used to reveal the on and off design performance of compressors and turbines. These maps plot the component’s pressure ratio versus the corrected flow rate for multiple engine rotor speeds. In this experiment, a Boeing T50-BO-8A converted turbojet engine was operated at a wide variety of rotor speeds with orifice plates of different sizes to vary the flow rate. The corrected flow rate through the turbojet ranged from 1.32 to 2.55 lb/s. The pressure ratios for the compressor and turbine ranged from 2.0 to 4.3 and from 1.7 to 4.3, respectively. The resulting performance maps showed …


Smore Phase 2: An Upgrade In Valve Systems & Startup Procedure For A Small Methanol Oxygen Liquid Rocket Engine, Christian Soria Mar 2010

Smore Phase 2: An Upgrade In Valve Systems & Startup Procedure For A Small Methanol Oxygen Liquid Rocket Engine, Christian Soria

Aerospace Engineering

A Methanol-Oxygen liquid rocket engine was designed and manufactured under the California Polytechnic State University Aerospace Department by students in a graduate level rocket propulsion class. The SMORE, previously known as the KORE, is now in an ongoing testing and developing stage with plans to incorporate it into the aerospace undergraduate propulsion lab. Phase 2 of the liquid rocket engine development is to produce a start-up procedure that will improve the safety due to manual operation and poor ignition conditions. A propane ignition system along with the implementation of electrically operated solenoid valves to control the fuels and oxidizer were …


Mixi Thruster Tungsten And Thoriated Tungsten Testing, Jesse R. Miller Jan 2010

Mixi Thruster Tungsten And Thoriated Tungsten Testing, Jesse R. Miller

Aerospace Engineering

The purpose of this project is to build and evaluate a tungsten filament cathode for the 3-cm Miniature Xenon Ion (MiXI) thruster. The filament is to be used for future tests within the CP 3-cm MiXI and thoriated tungsten is to be examined as a possible alternative. No testing of these filaments was conducted, but the preparatory work has been conducted for future testing.