Leading a small team through the development of an Ethanol/LOX 100lbf thrust test stand mounted engine. The purpose of this engine is to build a strong knowledge base in the club regarding liquid propulsion and eventually assist in the development of a liquid propulsion flight vehicle. Building and design is currently in progress with hot fire operations slated to begin around May 2018.
The system will use two GN2 pressurized propellant tanks to flow into an impinging injector plate mounted to the thrust chamber on the test stand. Avionics will monitor temperatures, pressures, flow rates, and thrust data and compare it to expected results to determine which designs and predictions were done correctly and which were not. The planned burn time is 4 seconds, and multiple tests are planned. Test operations will take place at ASU's West Campus, led by myself, two other team members and a faculty advisor. Injector design, thrust chamber design, piping & instrumentation, and structural analysis are being done with various software including: Solidworks, Python, ANSYS, LabView, Excel, and RPA.
This project is in the early design and funding allocation phase, so photos and videos are soon to come. I am the team lead for the Avionics responsible for secure communication, safety/abort parameters, data acquisition, and test operations for the project.