Patent · US Expired

Apparatus for after-burning fuel rich rocket exhaust products

US6101957A · kind A · utility

1Cited by
5References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 11, 1999
Grant dateAug 15, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 11, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S239/07
  • WIPO fieldEngines, pumps, turbines
  • WIPO sectorMechanical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus for the disposal of solid rocket motors which produce exhaust ases containing flammable and/or explosive products. The solid rocket motor to be burned is first detachably connected to and inserted in one end of an elongated mixing chamber which has, at an opposite end, a multi-step expansion nozzle. The rocket motor is then ignited and the exhaust gas is passed into the mixing chamber, which is sufficiently large to reduce the velocity of exhaust gases from supersonic to subsonic. Air is injected into the mixing chamber to react with flammable and/or explosive products in the exhaust gases and the resultant mixture is then discharged from the mixing chamber through a multi-step expansion nozzle to expand the gaseous mixture and, at the same time, produce substantial turbulence within the gas mixture which is about six times higher than the turbulence levels produced by a constant area circular nozzle. The expansion nozzle has an inner wall with a stair-step shaped surface, having an aspect ratio of not less than 2 and not greater than 10, to create the increased turbulence levels within the multistep nozzle.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.