RU2187446C2 - "прпи" launch vehicle vertical take-off and landing system - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: space engineering; non-expendable transport facilities for injection of payloads into orbit. SUBSTANCE: proposed system includes craft in whose hull shallow pool with grate in its bottom is formed. Launch vehicle is provided with multiengined plant with liquid hydrogen and oxygen tanks. Liquid hydrogen tank is made in form of hollow annular wing whose lower part performs function of float which is located above grate in said pool during transportation of launch vehicle. At launch, launch vehicle and craft are stabilized in vertical position by steam-and-gas flows from under this grate. Steam-and-gas flow is generated from water surface by reaction jets of multiengined plant. Canopies of landing parachutes are filled with steam-and-gas mixture at landing. EFFECT: increased load-carrying capacity; enhanced reliability of system; enhanced ecology; facilitated procedure of preparation and recover operations. 2 cl, 4 dwg

Description

 The invention relates to space technology, in particular, to solving the problems of take-off and landing of a reusable rocket carrier of a two-stage transport system, where the engines of this carrier operate on liquid hydrogen and oxygen and participate in the control both at launch and during the flight and landing.

Known multi-stage transport system of vertical take-off and one-time use, called the "moon rocket HI-LZ." Remaining still a record in terms of starting weight / 3200 tons /, it was made in tandem and had a very small value
Y = D / H ≃ 0.16,
where D is the overall diameter of the lower block / ⌀ 15 m / and
N - high-altitude system dimension - 95 m.

 Fuel: liquid oxygen and kerosene. To ensure the stability of this rocket, controlling it along the course and pitch, twenty-four engines from the 30 lower block were spaced along the peripheral support ring and could separately change the point of application of the total thrust vector by varying the gas pressure in the combustion chambers. This reduced fuel costs and allowed to distribute the starting impulse of the rise to a significant area, which avoided excessive buildup of the foundation of the launch pad / cm. an article by V. Pikul "Why" Energy "ran out, published in the journal IR, 93/4, and a brochure by S. Leskov" How we did not fly to the Moon ", M .:" Panorama ", 1991 /.

 The disadvantage of this remote analog device is twofold. On the one hand, there are significant technical and economic flaws. Such as the one-time use of the design, the small value of "U", the application of the total thrust at the start to the tail of the rocket, which makes the system not very durable and unstable, very expensive to manufacture. On the other hand, not using liquid hydrogen as fuel reduced the payload, worsened environmental friendliness ...

 There is also known a vertical take-off and landing system for a rocket containing a transport vessel with a hull round in plan and adapted to launch said aircraft from a central deck mine. At the same time, a rocket with fuel production acquires buoyancy, and during landing it uses a parachute / article by V. Pikul “The top is drifting in the ice”, IR, 78/9, final phrases on p. 21; A.S. 655592 by class 63 B 35/12 with priority of June 28, 1976 - prototype system.

 The disadvantage of this system is the even lower value of the parameter “U”, which is dictated by the mine method of launches. Rocket missiles in the surface mine are also difficult, the aircraft turns out to be small. The rocket engine at this start cannot but spend a lot of fuel on steering operations. When landing on a hard surface, the engine nozzle may receive mechanical damage. In the case of landing on water, in the sea, the engine is in a salty environment. Storm waves can damage a low-strength structure. Well, the utilization of the energy of the exhaust gases here does not occur either during take-off or during landing.

 The reusable vertical take-off system from the ground of a launch vehicle with a space shuttle manned spacecraft is widely known. The system is implemented in a batch mode. The first stage consists of two solid fuel blocks. The second stage is represented by the aforementioned ship with three jet engines and a single-use fuel tank. The tank compartments are filled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen before starting. The tank has a traditional cylindrical shape, determines the height of the rocket and burns in the atmosphere when it falls. The blocks of the first stage with the help of parachutes descend into the water. They are reused after reconditioning. The wings of the ship are triggered mainly only when landing on the airfield in an airplane.

 The parameter "U" is significant, close to 0.3. The system allows you to return from the Earth's orbit payload weighing about 15 tons. See, for example, "Polytechnical Dictionary", M, 1980, p. 491.

 The disadvantage of this system is that the wings of the second stage do not work during take-off. Therefore, the payload is very small, although partially hydrogen is used as the fuel, and the launch weight of the rocket reaches 2000 tons. The first stage works with the emission of gases harmful to the environment. Reconditioning of this stage is laborious. In a word, each flight is an expensive event. And further. The increase in "U" was not in itself a panacea. Starts remain weather-dependent. Due to the enormous concentration of energy in each engine, taxiing at start by means of angular deviations of the traction nozzles, oscillations of the tectonic plate arise. This often provokes earthquakes. . . Hence, the current aspirations for a “sea launch” are not so random. But! Existing traditional systems are capable of lifting only small loads into the supporting orbits of the Earth.

The aim of the proposed vertical take-off and landing system of the launch vehicle is to comprehensively reduce the bottlenecks listed above. First of all, increasing the carrying capacity of the carrier and the reliability of the system as a whole, reducing the cost of a person’s flight to the moon. Ensuring true reusability and all-weather, reducing the cycle of preparation for restarting. What then is the technical task?
Increasing the parameter "U" to one or more, however, so that the first stage takes off directly from the water and the engines of this stage in the take-off-landing process do not submerge in the aquatic environment. So that these engines not only provide lifting power and control the system, but also automatically contribute to the stability of the device both during take-off and when the first stage is landing on water.

 This goal is achieved by the fact that in the system of vertical take-off and landing of the launch vehicle containing a transport vessel with a hull adapted for take-off and landing of the launch vehicle, a float, a ring multi-engine installation with tanks for liquid hydrogen and oxygen, made with the possibility of full operation during take-off and reduced - when landing thrust, as well as parachutes used during landing of the launch vehicle, a shallow lagoon-like pool with a grate in the bottom of this pool.

 At the same time, the specified grate is designed to stabilize the vessel and the launch vehicle in the vertical position by the steam and gas currents generated from the water surface by jet jets of a multi-engine installation, and the liquid hydrogen tank is made in the form of a hollow annular wing with a lower part acting as the aforementioned float. Moreover, the float during transportation of the launch vehicle is located in the specified pool above the grate. At the same time, this liquid hydrogen tank is rigidly connected to the power ring, on top of which there is an annular liquid oxygen tank, and below the ring mentioned multi-engine installation. So that the channels of coverage of the oxygen tank and multi-engine installation by the specified hydrogen tank are formed.

 Moreover, with the possibility of passing air flows through these channels during the flight of the launch vehicle, as well as the above-mentioned combined-cycle currents during take-off and landing of the launch vehicle. Moreover, these parachutes are placed on a hydrogen tank with the ability to pressurize the gas pockets of their domes with the mentioned steam and gas currents during landing of the launch vehicle. The system is also noteworthy in that the hull of the transport vessel is made in the form of two dissected semitrains.

 The graphics of the system are represented by four figures. Figure 1 is a section along the midship of both the hull of the transport vessel and the two-stage rocket itself located in the lagoon-like basin. Figure 2 illustrates the ship in plan in the formation of the pool. In Fig.3 recorded the moment of the beginning of the splashdown of the media. Figure 4 gives visibility to the process of pressurizing gas pockets and wiring domes.

 So, the hydrogen tank float 1 / Fig. 1/, being made in the form of a hollow annular wing, rests on the water of the lagoon-like basin "a" with its lower, wetted part "b". This float is rigidly connected by pipe pylons 2 to the power ring 3. The latter is concentric with the float, carries a ring-shaped oxygen tank 4 from above and a multi-engine installation 5. From above, the power plant rises above the lagoon and is not wetted by water.

 The said power ring by means of the inner radial pylons 6 carries a central socket 7. In this case, flow channels "b" are formed between the outer and inner pylons, which cover the oxygen tank, multi-engine installation and serve for the passage of air and gases. The head unit 6 of the aircraft with its tail is integrated into the aforementioned socket so that it occupies a vertical position and can be disconnected from the launch vehicle in flight. The block with its peak protrudes above the upper end of the oxygen tank. Moreover, the nozzle of the block before the separation of the steps is located in the flow neck "g" of the central socket.

 A washer-shaped grate-mounted grate 9. is mounted in the bottom of the lagoon-like pool against the nozzles of the multi-engine installation. This power grate is concentric to the indicated nest and rests on the bottom keels 10. The upper annular layer of the hydrogen wing-wing has cavities where parachutes are placed 11. Their number can be significant here the reason for the large diameter of the mentioned wing tank. It is important to add that in this case the parameter Y ≥ 1.

The vessel consists of an energy module 12 / Fig. 2/ and half-hulls 13-14 connected to the energy module using hinges with vertical axes / cm. figures 1 and 2 /. Each half-hull includes an airborne floating part "d" and a submerged grate sector "e". The maximum opening angle of the half-shells is ~ 100 ^o . The radial circular clearance "and" between the hydrogen tank and the pool walls is maintained constant due to mooring lines.

 The components of rocket fuel during rocket launch are fed from tanks 1 and 4 / Fig. 1/ to a multi-engine installation 5 via pipelines enclosed in pylons 2 and 6. The engines then briefly operate in the pre-flight test mode, and the fuel combustion products rush together with water vapor up the flow channels "c".

 With the multi-engine installation in the take-off mode, the aircraft emits hypersonic jet jets of gas, which, by means of the grate 9, give the system vertical stability even when the sea is rough. The device takes off from the lagoon-like basin "a" and accelerates the second stage to the estimated speed. At the same time, the launch vehicle engines not only develop the required thrust, but also control the flight, ejecting incoming air currents into the said flow channels. Well, the pylons play the role of stabilizers. There is no harmful "bottom effect" here.

 The center of mass of the apparatus here is not higher than the point of application of the vector of total thrust. The stability of the system is high and the fuel consumption for managing the carrier is minimal, and the flight efficiency increased due to organized ejection within the wing tank. The launch of the head unit 8 occurs at the height of the separation of the steps from the central socket 7, after which the launch vehicle begins the descent process with the hydrogen ring tank moving forward and down.

 In this case, the multi-engine installation operates on "low gas", and a headwind blows into the flow channels from below. With approaching the water surface there is a group opening of parachutes 11 / cm. figure 3 /, the engines are briefly boosted and throw out gas flares "c". The latter blow off the crests of the surrounding waves, which at the same time, merging, form a "standing" water shaft "m". The pressure of soaring gas-vapor currents inflates the pockets of 15 parachutes with the help of valves 16.

 The emptied hydrogen tank 1 / Fig. 4/ is immersed in its lower part in water, creates buoyancy by the launch vehicle, the multi-engine installation is turned off, and the parachutes, turning into floating bubbles, land on the water, concentrating thereby enveloping the annular hydrogen tank. So protective gas currents "e" / Fig.3/ are replaced by an elastic barrier of the above parachutes-bubbles. They reliably protect the thin-walled tank-float from the wave roll up to the moment of approach of the transport vessel. It can also be a slipway for the apparatus.

 A transport vessel, the half-hulls of 13-14 of which are closed at the same time (Fig. 2), hurries to the place of the launch vehicle launching. With the approach to the apparatus, the “transporter” opens the entrance to its lagoon-like pool and covers the rocket with half-hulls on the windward side. It should be noted that the draft "b" of the float tank in the filled state should be less than the depth of the pool by the amount "l" / Fig. 1/.

 The large value of the "U" parameter facilitates the installation of the head unit in the central socket, and facilitates fueling. Moreover, such operations, in principle, can be carried out by a transport vessel with the help of its power module, its cranes and pumps. The speed of these operations, all-weather are guaranteed.

 It is possible that such a system will provide a return on human flights to the moon.

Claims (2)

 1. The vertical take-off and landing system of the launch vehicle, comprising a transport vessel with a hull adapted for take-off and landing of the launch vehicle, a float, an annular multi-engine installation with tanks for liquid hydrogen and oxygen, configured to operate in full mode during take-off, and reduced, during landing, thrust, as well as parachutes used during landing of the launch vehicle, characterized in that a shallow lagoon-like pool with a grate in the bottom basin, designed to stabilize the vessel and the launch vehicle in the vertical position by steam and gas flows generated from the water surface by multi-engine jet jets, the liquid hydrogen tank is made in the form of a hollow annular wing with a lower part that performs the functions of the specified float, which is placed during transportation of the launch vehicle in the specified basin above the grate, and this tank of liquid hydrogen is rigidly connected to the power ring, on top of which is installed a ring-shaped tank of liquid acid loroda, and from below - annular indicated multi-engine installation, so that channels of coverage of the oxygen tank and multi-engine installation with the indicated hydrogen tank are formed, with the possibility of passing air flows through these channels during the flight of the launch vehicle, as well as the indicated steam and gas currents during take-off and landing of the launch vehicle wherein said parachutes are placed on a hydrogen tank with the possibility of pressurizing the gas pockets of their domes with the indicated steam and gas currents during landing of the launch vehicle.  2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the said hull of the transport vessel is made in the form of two dismembered half-hulls.

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