JP3116068B2 - Scrum / race combined engine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a combined scram / race engine applied to a propulsion system such as a single-stage spacecraft that can take off from the ground, reach space, and return to the ground again.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a propulsion device for a single-stage spacecraft that takes off from the ground and reaches space has conventionally required three types of combined engines: a turbo engine, a ram engine, and a rocket engine. The reason for this is that each engine has an optimum range for speed and also uses conditions such as fuel and oxidizer.

In general, a turbo engine is used in a low speed range from takeoff to a certain speed, a ram engine is used up to a certain high speed range, and extremely high atmospheric pressure used above a certain high speed or as an oxidant is used. Rocket engines are used in lean areas. In particular, a ram-based engine takes in the atmosphere (air) using dynamic pressure (ram pressure), and therefore cannot be used in a low-speed region including takeoff and in a space where the atmosphere is sparse. A turbo engine that takes in the atmosphere and uses it as an oxidizing agent (combustion agent) cannot be used in space.

A race having characteristics of both a rocket engine and an air suction type engine (LACE: Liqu
efied Air Cycle Engine)
Is highly useful, but structural efficiency (propellant weight / total weight)
It is not suitable for a spacecraft that cannot be established unless it is made smaller.

[0005]

The conventional single-stage spacecraft propulsion system has the following problems to be solved.

That is, the conventional combined engine requires a turbo-type engine, a ram-type engine, and a rocket engine in takeoff, acceleration, and space, respectively, so that at least three types of engines are required. There was a problem that the weight of the machine increased.

An object of the present invention is to provide a combined scrum / race engine in which two types of engines are combined to solve the above problems.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a composite engine used in a propulsion device such as a single-stage spacecraft which can take off from the ground, return to the space after reaching the space, and return to the ground. mainly Mach 5 near the speed range and Mach 20 near or more sharing possible scramjet engine or Ranaru two speed region ranging from sharing possible race and Mach 4 near to Mach 25 near the speed range of the engine from takeoff And flying in extremely sparse regions of the atmosphere
Liquid oxygen that can be supplied as an oxidizing agent for racing
It is an object of the present invention to provide a combined scrum and race engine characterized by using an oxygen tank for storing the engine.

[0009] Here, the race means LACE (Liquef
This is an engine that is characterized by the fact that air in the atmosphere is made into a liquid by a heat exchanger using hydrogen as a refrigerant, and the hydrogen of the refrigerant is used as fuel and the liquid air is used as an oxidant. Thereby, the oxygen tank of a rocket or the like can be significantly reduced. The operating range of the race taking in the atmosphere is about 0 <M ₀ (flight Mach number) <5. However, if liquid oxygen stored in advance is used as an oxidizing agent, it is possible to fly at high speed as a rocket in space close to a vacuum.

A scramjet engine is an SC
RAM (Supersonic Combustion RAMjet engine), a supersonic airflow that flows through the intake during supersonic flight and burns in a supersonic state. Generally, it has higher specific thrust than rocket engines and races.

However, the operating range is 4 <M ₀ <25.
That is, another propulsion system that accelerates to M ₀ > 4 is required.

[0012]

The present invention is configured as described above and has the following effects.

That is, since two types of engines, a race and a scramjet engine, are provided as a combined engine and an oxygen tank capable of storing liquid oxygen is provided , the takeoff of the space shuttle vehicle to the Mach number In the acceleration phase until the speed becomes about the same, a race that takes in hydrogen as a refrigerant from the atmosphere and uses liquefied air as an oxidant is used as an air suction type engine, and Mach 5 to Mach 20 are used.
In the acceleration phase up to about the speed, a scramjet engine with high specific thrust was used, and a Mach number of 20
In the acceleration phase where the speed is higher than the speed, the race is again performed using liquid oxygen supplied from the oxygen tank
It is used as a rocket engine.
In this way, a lightweight aircraft can be constructed with two types of engines, a lightweight engine and a lightweight oxygen tank.
It is possible to establish a single-stage spacecraft.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a combined scram and race engine according to this embodiment. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of the rear part of a single-stage spacecraft equipped with the engine according to this embodiment. It almost corresponds to the posture and the like.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show the thrust and specific thrust of a race, a scramjet engine and a rocket shown for clarifying the performance of this embodiment. FIG. 2A shows the thrust and FIG. 2B shows the specific thrust. FIG. 3 and FIG. 3 are views showing a scenario in which a single-stage spacecraft equipped with the engine of this embodiment is inserted into an LEO (Low Earth Orbit). FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is a rear left sectional view of a single-stage spacecraft equipped with a combined scrum / race engine of FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is an overall three-view diagram of the single-stage spacecraft mounted on this embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. , (B) is a left side view, (c) is a rear view,
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between altitude and Mach number in flight of a single-stage spacecraft equipped with this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a race, 11 is a scramjet engine, and each of the constituent areas is schematically shown. 1 is a slush hydrogen tank for fuel, and 2 is an air inlet 5 for the race 10. A heat exchanger for cooling and liquefying the taken-in air using liquid hydrogen as a refrigerant, 3 is a gas generator, 4 is an oxygen tank for liquid oxygen used as an oxidant at a high altitude diluted with air, and 5 is a race. Reference numeral 10 denotes an air intake commonly used for the scramjet engine 11, and reference numeral 6 denotes a lower portion of the fuselage shown for clarifying the positional relationship between the race 10 and the scramjet engine 11. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the race 10 is located inside the fuselage and the scramjet engine 11 is located immediately below (outside) the lower fuselage 6. 6a is a top plate of the scramjet engine 11, 6b is a side plate, 7 and 8 are hydrogen valves, and 9 is an oxygen valve.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

As described above, the air intake 5 is common to the scramjet engine 11 and the race 10, and the scramjet engine 11 is provided outside the body, and the main body of the race 10 is provided inside the body.

At the start, the scramjet engine 11
The hydrogen halve 7 on the side is closed, and hydrogen flows to the race 10 side.
Since LOX (liquid oxygen) is used in the rocket mode, the oxygen valve 9 is still closed at the start. When the speed exceeds Mach 5, the valve 8 on the race 10 is closed, the hydrogen valve 7 is opened instead, and the mode shifts to the acceleration mode of the scramjet engine 11. Furthermore, the aircraft speed is Mach 2
When the altitude exceeds 50 km and the altitude exceeds 50 km, the hydrogen valve 7 on the scramjet engine 11 side is closed and the race 10
Open the hydrogen valve 8 and oxygen valve 9 on the
The race 10 is operated as a / LH ₂ (liquid oxygen / liquid hydrogen) rocket engine.

With this configuration, the gross weight at takeoff 35
FIG. 2 shows a thrust / specific thrust diagram when the four races 10 and the six scramjet engines 11 are mounted on a 0-ton single-stage spacecraft. (A) is a thrust diagram for the flight Mach number, and (b) is a specific thrust diagram for the flight Mach number.

FIG. 3 shows a scenario when a single-stage spacecraft is inserted into LEO.

As described in the section of the means for solving the problems, the race turns the air in the atmosphere into a liquid with a heat exchanger using hydrogen as a refrigerant, burns the hydrogen of the refrigerant as fuel, and the liquid air as an oxidant. An engine characterized in that:
Therefore , since air can be taken in and used as an oxidizing agent in the atmosphere, the airless or non- air
There is an advantage that the volume of an oxygen tank for supplying an oxidant, which is essential for rocket propulsion during flight in outer space, which always has a lean atmosphere, can be greatly reduced. Book
Since then, the operating range of the race is 0 <M _{0 in the} atmosphere as described above.
<About 5, but liquid oxygen stored in oxygen tank
Is supplied as an oxidant and used as a rocket ,
Air or very sparse air due to source operation
Rukoto obtain a Mach 20 or more of the speed in the only space
Can be. Thus, in this example, it was to use a racing two speed region of their these.

On the other hand, a scramjet engine is an engine characterized in that a supersonic air flow flowing through an intake during supersonic flight is burned in a supersonic state as described above, and is generally a rocket engine or a rocket engine. Higher specific thrust than race.

However, the operating range is 4 <M ₀ <25.
That is, another propulsion system that accelerates to M ₀ > 4 is required. Therefore, when combined with a race as in the present embodiment, it is possible to fly very efficiently from takeoff to the universe where the atmosphere is infinite.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a race,
It is a figure showing (a) thrust and (b) specific thrust of a scramjet engine and a rocket.

Although the specific thrust indicating the engine performance is the highest in the scramjet engine, it operates only at M> 4 because the ram pressure is used as described above. The race is Mach 0
Although the specific thrust is higher than that of the rocket engine, the thrust decreases with the Mach number as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, the rocket engine has a substantially constant thrust and specific thrust regardless of the Mach number, whether in the atmosphere or in space.

Focusing on the fact that the race operates not only as an air breathing engine but also as a rocket engine, the characteristics of the race and the scramjet engine are combined to show the respective operating ranges in FIG.
(A).

FIG. 2 shows that the total weight is 350 tons and 4
FIGS. 4 and 5 show an example in which one race and six scramjet engines are mounted. The weight distribution in this case is as shown in Table 1, and there is an advantage that the weight ratio of slush hydrogen and liquid oxygen is small compared to the total weight.

[0031]

[Table 1]

Next, the single-stage spacecraft of this embodiment is
A scenario in which the vehicle is put into (orbiting on the low Earth orbit) will be described with reference to the first stage, the second stage, the third stage, and the fourth stage in FIG. The first stage: From takeoff to Mach 5, the race is used as a propulsion system. At this time, the altitude reaches about 20 km. Second stage: The acceleration phase, in which a scramjet engine is used as a propulsion system. After accelerating to approximately Mach 20 at an altitude of about 40 km, the aircraft reaches an altitude of about 50 km with the nose upward. Third stage: The rocket mode phase of the race, in which the rocket engine is operated instead of the air suction engine in the high air where the air becomes lean. At this time, the altitude reaches about 500 km. Fourth stage: The race is reignited as a rocket engine near the apogee point to put the aircraft into LEO.

The above is an example of a scenario in which a single-stage spacecraft is inserted into LEO. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the altitude and the Mach number in that case.

FIG. 4 is a left side sectional view of the rear part of the single-stage spacecraft equipped with the combined scrum and race engine of the present embodiment, as described above, wherein 2a is a low-pressure heat exchanger and 2b is a high-pressure heat exchanger. Reference numeral 10 is a race, and 11 is a scramjet engine. 12 is a variable intake, 13 is a race intake, 14 is a scramjet engine intake,
These correspond to the air intake 5 in FIG. 15 is a strut, 16 is a compressor, 17 is a slush hydrogen boost pump, 18 is a combustor of the race 10, 19 is a liquid-air boost pump, 20 is a nozzle, and 30 is a single-stage spacecraft.

FIG. 5 is an overall view of the single-stage spacecraft 30 shown in FIG. The dimensions are shown for reference and, of course, are not limited to this.
As shown, the single-stage spacecraft 30 has an attitude control engine (ROS) and an orbit change engine (OM) in addition to the race 10 and the scramjet engine 11 of the present embodiment.
S) is mounted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the propulsion system of the single-stage spacecraft is a composite engine combining a race and a scramjet engine. Use the scramjet engine with the highest specific thrust in the vicinity of Mach 5 where ram pressure can be effectively used, and race again at high altitude where outside air can not be used, this time with the built-in liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen Can be used as 2
It is possible to reach space while using the atmosphere as an oxidizing agent to the maximum extent in the atmosphere, while using a small amount of liquid oxygen, so there is no need to use three types of engines as in the past. There is an advantage that a light and inexpensive propulsion device for a spacecraft can be obtained.

[0037]

The present invention has the following effects because it is configured as described above.

That is, according to the combined engine of the present invention, the race can combine the properties of both an air suction type engine and a rocket engine. Up to two types of engines can be used to fly a single-stage spacecraft.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a combined scram and race engine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a thrust and a specific thrust with respect to a flight Mach number of the combined scram and race engine of the embodiment, and FIG.
Is a diagram of thrust, (b) is a diagram of specific thrust,

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a scenario in which a single-stage spacecraft equipped with a combined scrum / race engine is put into LEO according to the above embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a left side sectional view of the rear part of the single-stage spacecraft equipped with the combined scrum and race engine of the above embodiment,

FIG. 5 is a three-view drawing of a single-stage spacecraft equipped with the combined scrum and race engine of the embodiment, (a) is a plan view,
(B) is a left side view, (c) is a rear view,

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between altitude and Mach number of a single-stage spacecraft equipped with the combined scrum and race engine of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Slash hydrogen tank 2 Heat exchanger 2a Low pressure heat exchanger 2b High pressure heat exchanger 3 Gas generator 4 Oxygen tank 5 Air intake 6 Lower body 7,8 Hydrogen valve 9 Oxygen valve 10 Race 11 Scramjet engine 16 Compressor 18 Combustor 20 Nozzle

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor: Yoichiro Miki 1200, Higashi-Tanaka, Komaki, Aichi Prefecture Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Nagoya Guidance Propulsion System Works (56) References JP-A-6-241119 (JP, A) JP-A-4- 94442 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F02K 7/14 F02K 7/18

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A composite engine used for a propulsion device such as a single-stage spacecraft that can take off from the ground and return to the ground after reaching space, mainly in a speed region near Mach 5 from takeoff and near a Mach 20 or higher. and speed range sharing possible race acceleration, Mach 4 near to Mach 25 near scramjet et <br/> Nji down or Ranaru two possible share accelerating speed area ranging from the engine, the race Supply to
And a combined oxygen tank capable of storing liquid oxygen .