A MEMS-based solid propellant microthruster array for space and military applications

[摘要] Since combustion is an easy way to achieve large quantities of energy from a small volume, we developed a MEMS based solid propellant microthruster array for small spacecraft and micro-air-vehicle applications. A thruster is composed of a fuel chamber layer, a top-side igniter with a micromachined nozzle in the same silicon layer. Layers are assembled by adhesive bonding to give final MEMS array. The thrust force is generated by the combustion of propellant stored in a few millimeter cube chamber. The micro-igniter is a polysilicon resistor deposited on a low stress SiO2/SiNxthin membrane to ensure a good heat transfer to the propellant and thus a low electric power consumption. A large range of thrust force is obtained simply by varying chamber and nozzle geometry parameters in one step of Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE). Experimental tests of ignition and combustion employing home made (DB+x%BP) propellant composed of a DoubleBase and Black-Powder. A temperature of 250 °C, enough to propellant initiation, is reached for 40 mW of electric power. A combustion rate of about 3.4 mm/s is measured for DB+20%BP propellant and thrust ranges between 0.1 and 3,5 mN are obtained for BP ratio between 10% and 30% using a microthruster of 100 μm of throat wide.

[发布机构] Physics Department, LPR Laboratory, University of Annaba, BP.12, Annaba; 23000, Algeria^1;ESIEE-Paris, SEN Department, 2 Bd. Blaise Pascal, Noisy-le-Grand; 93162, France^2;Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Annaba, Annaba; 23000, Algeria^3;FEMTO-ST, Department of Micro Nano Sciences and Systems MN2S, 15B ave. des Montboucons, Besançon; 25030, France^4;Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Skikda, Skikda; 21000, Algeria^5;Physics Department, University of Tlemcen, BP. 119, Tlemcen; 13000, Algeria^6;Department of Science and Technology, University of Mila, Mila; 43000, Algeria^7;Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Laghouat, Laghouat; 03000, Algeria^8;Laboratory for Chemical Technology, Ghent University, Ghent; 9052, Belgium; (10) LAAS-CNRS, NI2S, 7 ave. du Colonel Roche, Toulouse; 31031, France^9

[效力级别] 能源学

[关键词] Adhesive bonding;Combustion rate;Deep Reactive Ion Etching;Electric power consumption;Experimental test;Nozzle geometries;Polysilicon resistors;Small spacecrafts