Propulsion Project List

PR1: Combustion Chamber

Description

Interested in designing the heart of our rocket’s hybrid engine? Hybrid rockets typically use the combustion reaction of a liquid oxidizer and a solid fuel (we use nitrous oxide as the oxidizer and paraffin wax as the fuel) to generate thrust. There are three main parts of our rocket engine - the forward enclosure, combustion chamber, and rear enclosure. Breaking it down:

The main component of the forward enclosure is the injector, which feeds the nitrous oxide from a tank in the rocket to the combustion chamber. The combustion chamber holds the paraffin wax, which gets burned when the rocket is launched, as well as a thermally insulative liner to protect the rest of the rocket from burning up, and a casing to hold it all together. Finally the nozzle, in the rear enclosure, expands the combusted gases and generates thrust. See below for some images of each of the parts. 

The goal of the project is twofold: first, research and design an improved combustion chamber casing. We’ll validate the design with numerical methods like finite element analyses (FEA) and heat transfer calculations, as well as hotfiring the engine. The second goal is to redesign the connection of the combustion chamber to both the forward and rear enclosure to speed the assembly/ disassembly time.

By working on this project you’ll learn a lot about how the engine works, and go through a full design cycle of researching to developing models to testing in hotfires. Knowledge of CADing and 3D printing is helpful but not required.

Keywords

Combustion chamber, design, CAD, 3D printing, heat transfer, thermodynamics, NX Nastran

Timeline

Medium to long, 1-2 years

Requirements

  • Willingness to learn! This is the most important by far as everything can be learned as long as you’re willing to put in the work.

  • 3D printing, CADing, thermodynamics and/or heat transfer knowledge is a plus. 

  • Must enjoy hands-on design and repeated testing!

Resources

  • Hotfire video!! Mandatory viewing (with sound), even if you accidentally found your way onto this site.

  • The basic setup of the engine (see picture). This is just for reference - don’t worry about understanding it all.

  • Engine details

PR2: Data Acquisition and Control Systems

Description

For a rocket to launch properly you first need a good design, and for a good design you need good data. To obtain said data, a data acquisition (DAQ) system is needed and thus is incorporated into the team’s test site (or “engine testing facility” if you are feeling fancy). Temperature, pressure, and thrust mark the main physical quantities measured and processed through the use of sensors and adapted circuitry. Those measurements will then help the rest of the team design and improve key elements of the rocket like the combustion chamber, injector, or valves.

On the other hand, it is also very important that the mentioned test site is always fully operational for hot fire tests. Aside from good structural integrity and an adequate plumbing system, one of the key elements to a proper test and even a successful launch, is a control system. From the simple click of a switch at the control station, and thanks to a variety of electrical circuits, the control system actuates things like valves, heating blankets or igniters from afar. This allows us to go through testing procedures from a safe distance, which is quite important when we work with rockets.

Finally, it is important to understand that control systems extend to horizons that are much further than the test site. Indeed, such systems are useful at all stages of the rocket’s design cycle. They go from acquiring data and testing, to filling the rocket’s reservoir and launching. It is thus easy to understand how essential this kind of electrical systems are throughout the team and why we have to get proficient with them.

As part of this project, you will:
- Learn both the electrical and mechanical sides of propulsion
- Sharpen your PCB design and debugging skills
- Help improve and implement a new DAQ and control system at the test site and the launch pad
- Design and test new high speed application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC)

Keywords

Electronics, PCBs, DAQ, sensors, control systems

Timeline

Short to medium-term project (1-2 years)

Requirements

  • Basic knowledge of electronics

  • Interest in circuit, control system and data acquisition system design

  • The passion of youth

Resources

PR3: Ground Infrastructure

Description 

The launch infrastructure and fill systems encompass everything on the ground that is essential to getting the rocket in the air. As a launch infrastructure member in the 2023-2024 design cycle, your priority will be to design, manufacture, and test a brand new infrastructure to host MRTs highest thrust rocket ever designed.

Our forthcoming and second Student Researched and Developed (SRAD) launch rail represents a significant advancement over its predecessor, tailored to accommodate our high thrust. Its primary functions encompass providing robust support, raising the rocket to the desired launch angle, and offering guidance during initial acceleration. Ensuring optimal flight stability, the rail will boast a considerable length of 32 ft, complemented by a diverse range of launch angle options. Additionally, an easy assembly and transportation will be key attributes of its design. As a member of this project you will be working on researching, designing, CADing, manufacturing and testing parts of the launch rail such as the mechanical lifting of the tower, anchoring and more!

Once the rocket is mounted on the launch rail, it is then filled with oxidizer. The MRT uses self-pressurising nitrous oxide as a liquid oxidizer, which serves well in hybrid rocket engines but should be used with caution. As such, the launch infrastructure team is tasked with designing and manufacturing a remote system to fill the rocket. As a ground infrastructure member, you will be responsible for researching and sourcing high pressure plumbing as well as designing and CADing of support infrastructure including a mechanical arm, fill panel, and quick disconnect. An arm that remotely disconnects the fill plumbing from the rocket for launch, and a panel that supports essential plumbing components such as valves and safety reliefs. 

During the design and manufacturing cycle, you'll have the opportunity to actively participate in various assembly tests of the launch infrastructure where you will get to see your designs come to life. This project offers valuable hands-on experience in design for manufacturing (DFM), design for assembly (DFA), as well as very valuable experience in the design and handling of high-pressure fluid systems, which are fundamental concepts in the field of design engineering!  If you like hands-on testing, and want to see a project through from design to success, launch infrastructure is for you! 

Keywords

Structural Design, CAD, Plumbing, Hands-On Testing

Timeline

Short to medium-term project (1-1.5 years)

Requirements 

  • Passion for design, manufacturing and learning!

  • Works well in a larger team

  • Not afraid of hands-on work

  • Interest in structural design

Resources 

PR4: Run Valve

Description 

A rocket isn't much of a rocket if you can't control when to launch. Enter the run valve. On the MRT, the run valve has been years in the making, and in short, it's what makes the rocket go when we want it to. It is the separation point between the oxidizer tank and the combustion chamber. We need it to work not only reliably, but quickly and efficiently. We are always trying to lose weight on the rocket team, so we want it to be as small and light as possible. 

We want to redesign the current run valve which is a pneumatically actuated piston valve (fancy way of saying nitrous oxide pushes a gate with a hole in line with the tubing between the tank and combustion chamber). We don't want to reinvent the wheel here, but we can do better! The project will initially entail research. We need to understand how valves work, what really good valves look like, and what would work best for us. Then, the bulk of the Fall semester will be spent in the design cycle weeds.

Once a viable design is produced, we need to verify that it passes the requirements we set. This will look a lot of different ways, but it will include: Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to verify structural requirements, weight analysis to confirm we are improving on the previous design, and a Bill of Materials (BOM) to make sure we’re not breaking the bank. After meeting all these requirements, we need to manufacture the new valve, and then comes the fun part: testing. We need to confirm that it meets our requirements by different criteria, and we need to validate that it is easy to use and interfaces well with the rest of the rocket both at the test site and in a full rocket configuration.

Keywords

Valves, Fluid Dynamics, Design, Testing, Siemens NX

Timeline

Research and Requirement Definition in early fall, Design and Development in mid to late fall, Validation and Verification in early winter, manufacturing in mid winter, and testing in mid to late winter. (1 year)

Requirements

  • Interest in valves!

  • Like moving parts

  • Experience with CAD and Fluid Mechanics a plus

  • Love for documentation a plus

Resources

PR5: Unified Fill-Dump Valve

Description

Our hybrid rocket engine works with a solid fuel (paraffin, like in candles) and a liquid oxidizer (nitrous oxide), which react powerfully to generate thrust.

The Unified Fill-Dump (UFD) combines the roles of two valves usually found in rockets: the fill valve, responsible for filling the rocket with the oxidiser; and the dump valve, responsible to dump the oxidizer outside in the case of a scrubbed launch. These operations are crucial to the rocket, as the UFD will have to reliably close to avoid losing oxidizer before launch, as well as reliably open in case of a scrubbed launch to empty the rocket’s oxidizer tank (as pressurized tanks are dangerous).

This project’s goal is to replace our Commercial of the Shelf (COTS) UFD valve by a Student Researched and Developed (SRAD) one, better tailored to our needs, with the goals of:

  • Reducing the space that it occupies

  • Reducing its weight

  • Making it more reliable

As a member of this project, you’ll get to do some research into valves, design (CAD) the different parts, run some simulations (FEA) and do lots of tests!

You will also gain a great understanding of the rocket’s propulsion systems and learn many useful skills!

Keywords

Valve, Design, CAD, FEA, fluid dynamics, plumbing, testing

Timeline

Long term project, with research, development and design during the fall semester and manufacturing and testing during the Winter semester (1 year).

Requirements

  • Interested in fluid dynamics

  • Creative, likes to research ideas

  • Likes to design, experiment and test

Resources

PR6: Tank and Pressure Feed System

Description

Ever wonder how a rocket is able to generate thrust and shoot into the sky? Our hybrid rocket uses two propellants, liquid nitrous oxide (oxidizer) and solid paraffin wax (fuel), which mix together and burn to generate thrust. An integral part of the propulsion system is the oxidizer tank and related pressure feed system, which store the nitrous oxide propellant and feed it to the combustion chamber in the first few seconds of flight. 
One of our numerous goals this year is to start the design process for an engine capable of sending a rocket to 60,000 feet. While the overall systems are similar to our current engine, Maelström Mk.II, this new apogee will require redesigning and scaling up the oxidizer tank, as well as integrating a pressurant feed system. The design of both of these systems are constrained by rocket diameter, as well as weight and safety standards. This project is perfect for you if you want a good mix of design, hands-on work as well as dabbling in computer aided performance prediction. You can participate in two ways in this project!

Tank and Feed System Design:

One of your tasks this year would be to help in the design of the oxidizer tank and related pressure feed system for the high thrust engine! This will be broken up into two phases: 

  • A design phase consisting of research, CADing and numerical validation (FEAs)

  • A testing phase consisting of safety testing as well as trips to the MRT test site (get excited!)

Building on existing models for computer aided performance prediction development is another aspect of this project. While the main portion of the project will be focused on tank and feed system design, if you have an interest in modelling and theory this is also a good project for you!

Keywords

Fluid dynamics, pressure system design, NX Nastran, MATLAB, CAD

Timeline

Long term project (1-2 years)

Requirements

  • Eagerness to learn! This project is a great way to apply what you learn in courses to a tangible project! You will definitely get as much out of it as you put in. 

  • Interest in deep-diving into current literature on fluid dynamics.

  • Experience or interest in modelling and coding.

  • Experience or interest in structural design.

Resources

PR7: Rocket Structures

Description

You might already know that rockets are subject to immense forces during launch, but did you know that this is also the case during descent, when the parachutes deploy? Of course, a structural failure during launch is catastrophic for the rocket, but so is a failure at parachute deployment; sending the broken off section of the rocket plummeting towards the ground and annihilating any possibility of reuse. That's why it's important to know the different load cases the rocket is submitted to and how structural failure is reached in all of those cases. 

“Destructive” testing of previous structures:

To better understand how and when our structures fail for upcoming designs, we will test the structures used on the previous rocket up to failure and analyze that failure. With this new knowledge, we will be much better equipped to make sure nothing is overlooked or under tested in future designs.

Structural cages design:

This year, our team is starting to design a rocket aimed to reach 60,000 ft of altitude. The people participating on this project will be tasked to design the structural cages, which are the structures transmitting the thrust of the engine to the rest of the rocket. We will have to work with constraints of overall strength and mass, balancing the two to get the design that’s best suited for our rocket. Since this part of the rocket interfaces with a lot of other parts, integration with other subsystems will be a big part of this task. We will go through three phases during the project:

  1. Design of the structures

  2. Numerical simulation to iterate on or confirm the design

  3. Testing

Keywords

Structural Analysis, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), ANSYS/NX Nastran, Mass Optimization, CAD

Timeline

1-year project, renew every year

Requirements

  • Being able and willing to look at previous designs from literature

  • Experience/Interest in FEA

  • Experience/Interest in structural analysis

  • Experience/Interest in CAD

Resources

PR8: Injector and Fuel Casting

Description

Injector Design and Testing:

The injector in a hybrid rocket engine plays a critical role in the combustion process by facilitating the controlled mixing and delivery of liquid oxidizer into the combustion chamber and is therefore essential for generating thrust. Injectors come in various designs and geometries, shower-head injectors (named for its resemblance to a traditional shower head) being the easiest to manufacture and what is presently used in our rockets.

There are two main goals of this project: 

  • Manufacture and test multiple shower-head injector designs to validate our model and better characterise injector parameters (taking place mainly in Fall 2023). 

  • Design, build and test an injector test rig for more complex injector designs (taking place mainly in Winter 2024).

Fuel Casting:

Hybrid rocket fuel grains can be manufactured via casting techniques, a process in which liquid material is poured into a mould and allowed to solidify. For hybrid rocket fuel grains, which are typically a plastic, rubber or in our case, paraffin wax, the casting technique is employed to create the solid fuel grain that will be used as the propellant in the rocket. Presently, our in-house production involves spincasting the fuel directly inside the combustion chamber using a custom machine. The goal of this project would be to redesign the fuel casting process to mitigate vibrations, as well as explore new ways to manufacture our fuel grains (taking place mainly in Winter 2024).

These projects are particularly interesting for students looking to gain experience in applying their theoretical knowledge to experimentation and data analysis.

Keywords

Fluid Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Modeling, Testing, Experimentation, Python, MATLAB, CAD, Fuel Casting

Timeline

  • Injector: Long term project (manufacturing and testing in the Fall. Building an injector test-rig in the Winter.)

  • Fuel Casting: Long term project (redesign in Winter 2024)

Requirements

  • Being able and willing to look at previous designs from literature

  • Experience/Interest in FEA

  • Experience/Interest in structural analysis

  • Experience/Interest in CAD

Resources