Cryogenic rocket engine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vulcain engine of Ariane 5 rocket

RL-10 is an early example of cryogenic rocket engine.

A cryogenic rocket engine is a rocket engine that uses a cryogenic fuel or oxidizer, that is, its
fuel or oxidizer (or both) are gases liquefied and stored at very low temperatures.[1] Notably,
these engines were one of the main factors of NASA's success in reaching the Moon by the
Saturn V rocket.[1]

During World War II, when powerful rocket engines were first considered by the German,
American and Soviet engineers independently, all discovered that rocket engines need high mass
flow rate of both oxidizer and fuel to generate a sufficient thrust. At that time oxygen and low
molecular weight hydrocarbons were used as oxidizer and fuel pair. At room temperature and
pressure, both are in gaseous state. Hypothetically, if propellants had been stored as pressurized
gases, the size and mass of fuel tanks themselves would severely decrease rocket efficiency.
Therefore, to get the required mass flow rate, the only option was to cool the propellants down to
cryogenic temperatures (below −183 °C [90 K], −253 °C [20 K]), converting them to liquid
form. Hence, all cryogenic rocket engines are also, by definition, either liquid-propellant rocket
engines or hybrid rocket engines.[2]

The energy conversion takes place while the Liquid fuelled rocket takes off.

Various cryogenic fuel-oxidizer combinations have been tried, but the combination of liquid
hydrogen (LH2) fuel and the liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer is one of the most widely used.[1][3]
Both components are easily and cheaply available, and when burned have one of the highest
enthalpy releases by combustion,[4] producing specific impulse up to 450 s (effective exhaust
velocity 4.4 km/s).

Contents
 1 Construction
 2 LOX+LH2 rocket engines by country
 3 Comparison of Cryogenic rocket engine for first stage
 4 Comparison of Cryogenic rocket engine for upper stage
 5 References
 6 External links

Construction
The major components of a cryogenic rocket engine are the combustion chamber (thrust
chamber), pyrotechnic initiator, fuel injector, fuel cryopumps, oxidizer cryopumps, gas turbine,
cryo valves, regulators, the fuel tanks, and rocket engine nozzle. In terms of feeding propellants
to the combustion chamber, cryogenic rocket engines (or, generally, all liquid-propellant
engines) are either pressure-fed or pump-fed, and pump-fed engines work in either a gas-
generator cycle, a staged-combustion cycle, or an expander cycle.

The cryopumps are always turbopumps powered by a flow of fuel through gas turbines. Looking
at this aspect, engines can be differentiated into a main flow or a bypass flow configuration. In
the main flow design, all the pumped fuel is fed through the gas turbines, and in the end injected
to the combustion chamber. In the bypass configuration, the fuel flow is split; the main part goes
directly to the combustion chamber to generate thrust, while only a small amount of the fuel goes
to the turbine.[citation needed]

LOX+LH2 rocket engines by country

Currently, six countries have successfully developed and deployed cryogenic rocket engines:

Country Engine Cycle

SSME Staged combustion
United States J-2 Gas-generator
RL-10 Expander
 RS-68 Gas-generator
RS-83 Gas-generator
RD-0120 Staged combustion
Russia RD-0146 Expander
KVD-1 Staged combustion
Vulcain Gas-generator
France HM7B Gas-generator
Vinci Expander
CE-7.5 Staged combustion
India
CE-20 Gas-generator
YF-50t Staged combustion
YF-73 Gas-generator
People's Republic of China YF-75 Gas-generator
YF-75D Expander cycle
YF-77 Gas-generator
LE-7 / 7A Staged combustion
Japan Gas-generator(LE-5)
LE-5 / 5A / 5B
Expander(5A/5B)

Comparison of Cryogenic rocket engine for first stage

model SSME LE-7A RD-0120 Vulcain2 RS-68 YF-77
People's
Country of United Soviet United
Japan France Republic of
origin States Union States
China
Staged Staged Staged Gas- Gas- Staged
Cycle
combustion combustion combustion generator generator combustion
Length 4.24 m 3.7 m 4.55 m 3.00 m 5.20 m 4.20 m
Diameter 1.63 m 1.82 m 2.42 m 1.76 m 2.43 m -
Dry weight 3,177 kg 1,832 kg 3,449 kg 1,686 kg 6,696 kg 2,700 kg
Propellant LOX/LH2 LOX/LH2 LOX/LH2 LOX/LH2 LOX/LH2 LOX/LH2
Chamber
18.9 MPa 12.0MPa 21.8 MPa 11.7 MPa 9.7 MPa 10.2 MPa
pressure
Isp (vac.) 453 sec 440 sec 454 sec 433 sec 409 sec 438 sec
Thrust
2.278MN 1.098MN 1.961MN 1.120MN 3.37MN 0.673MN
(vac.)
Thrust (SL) 1.817MN 0.87MN 1.517MN 0.800MN 2.949MN 0.550MN
Space H-IIA
Used in Energia Ariane 5 Delta IV Long March 5
Shuttle H-IIB
Comparison of Cryogenic rocket engine for upper stage
Specifications
ES-
RL- HM Vinc KVD CE- CE- YF- YF- YF- RD- ES- LE- LE- LE-
100
10 7B i -1 7.5 20 73 75 75D 0146 702 5 5A 5B
1
P P P
eople' eople' eople'
S
Count Unite s s s
oviet I
ry of d Fran Fran Indi Repu Repu Repu Russi Japa Japa Japa Japa Japa
Unio ndia
origin State ce ce a blic blic blic a n n n n n
n
s of of of
China China China
Exp
Exp
ande
ande
r
r
blee
blee
d
d
Stage Stage Gas cycl
cycl
Gas- d d - Gas- Gas- Gas- Gas- Gas- e
Expa Expa Expa Expa e
Cycle gene comb comb gen gener gener gene gene gene （
rator rator rator （
nder nder nder nder
rator ustio ustio erat ator ator
Cha
n n or Noz
mbe
zle
r
Exp
Exp
ande
ande
r）
r）
66.7 98.1 98 k 102. r121 137.
68.6
kN kN N 9k .5 k 2k
Thrust 62.7 180 69.6 73 k 200 44.15 78.45 88.26 kN
(15,0 (22,0 (10. N N N
(vac.) kN kN kN N kN kN kN kN (7.0
00 lb 54 lb 0 (10. (12. (14
tf)[5] [6]
f) f) tf) 5 tf) 4 tf) tf)
Mixtur
5.0 5.8 5.0 5.2 6.0 5.2 6.0 5.5 5 5
e ratio
Nozzle
40 83.1 100 40 80 80 40 40 140 130 110
ratio
Isp 444. 425[ 425[
433 465 462 454 443 420 438 442 463 7] 8] 450 452 447
(vac.) 2
Cham
ber
pressu 2.35 3.5 6.1 5.6 5.8 6.0 2.59 3.68 7.74 2.45 3.51 3.65 3.98 3.58
re :MP
a
 LH2
90,0 42,00 65,00 125,0 41,0 46,3 50,0 51,0 52,0
TP
00 0 0 00 00 10 00 00 00
rpm
LOX
18,0 16,6 21,0 16,0 17,0 18,0
TP
00 80 80 00 00 00
rpm
Length 2.2~
1.73 1.8 2.14 2.14 1.44 2.8 2.2 2.68 2.69 2.79
m 4.2
Dry
255. 259.
weight 135 165 550 282 435 558 236 550 242 255 248 285
8 4
kg

References