1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for gelling liquefied gasses such as liquid propane (LP), liquid methane (LCH4), liquid mixed oxides of nitrogen, (MON-X), or cryogenic liquids such as liquid oxygen (LOX). The apparatus includes a churn mixer specially adapted for liquefied gasses and the associated method produces gelled rocket propellants and other useful gelled liquefied gasses.
2. Description of Related Art
Methods and apparatus for gelling rocket fuels are known in the art. Methods of gelling liquefied gasses and cryogenic liquids can be found in the following patents, which are incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,730 discloses crystals of ice or methyl alcohol as gelling agents to gel liquefied natural gas in order to improve transportation efficiency by displacing inert gasses normally dissolved in the fuel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,346 discloses a system for gelling cryogenic liquids, including rocket fuels, using crystallized vapor droplets as gellant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,256 describes a process for making methane cryogenic liquid gels by forming a mixture of cryogen vapor and droplets and combining the mixture with a gelling agent that is a liquid or gas at ambient temperature but a solid at cryogenic temperatures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,771 provides a cryogenic rocket propellant comprising a slurry of solid methane in liquid hydrogen.
The preceding inventions are directed to the large-scale preparation of gelled liquefied gasses or cryogenic liquids. Small rocket motors, such as those used to provide attitude control require fuels of high quality and reliability and in smaller amounts than booster rockets, and other large rocket motors. Apparatus and methods are needed for the production of high quality gelled liquefied gasses with uniform distribution of gellant and particulate dopants and desirable rheological properties. The present invention provides apparatus and methods to satisfy this need and has been demonstrated for the production of gelled liquid propane (GLP) and mixed oxides of nitrogen (MON), including 70% N2O4+30% NO (MON-30). The products are of high quality and made in amounts suitable for rocket motors such as those found in divert and attitude control systems.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for producing gelled liquefied gasses, including, for example, GLP and MON-30. The apparatus and method are particularly well-suited for making gelled propellants for high-performance upper stage and Divert and Attitude Control Systems, but can also be used for the production of gelled liquefied gasses for other purposes such as propellants for automobile airbag inflators, emergency escape systems for aircraft, underwater propulsion, and fuel cell fuels. The apparatus and method produce gels in which gellants, such as silicon dioxide, clay, carbon, or organic polymers such as hydroxypropyl cellulose, inorganic polymers and additives, such as powders of boron, carbon, lithium, aluminum, and/or titanium are homogeneously dispersed in the final product. The use of additives produces doped gels with improved function such as hypergolicity, higher specific impulse (Isp), density impulse, and desired rheological properties.
In the example provided, LP is gelled using a one-liter, temperature controlled churn-mixer (
The churn mixer may be scaled up or down to 500 liters, 200 liters, 50 liters, 10 liters, or 0.5 liters, for example. The mixing vessel components may be made of any material resistant to the chemicals, temperatures and pressures used in the gelling process. In the present example, the mixer and transfer tank are made of aluminum. Other materials such as stainless steel may and borosilicate glass may also be used. Pneumatically actuated zero void volume valves are preferred but other types of valves may be used.
A schematic of the components used in the gelling method is shown in
20 grams of Cabot M-5® fumed silica were placed in mixing vessel 10. The follower plate was lowered into the mixing vessel until the churn plate contacted the gellant. The vessel was sealed by compressing o-rings in the flower plate. Transfer tank 5 and mixing vessel 10 were evacuated using vacuum pump 25 with valve 72 closed and valves 52, 62, and 82 open. Valves 52, 62, and 82 were then closed and LP was transferred from an LP tank (not shown) into the evacuated transfer tank through a fill valve (not shown). Scale 15 was used to monitor the mass of the propane in the aluminum tank during transfer. The fill valve was then closed.
The temperature inside the transfer tank and mixing vessel was lowered to −45° C. to prepare the propane gel mixer for propane transfer. The mixer was cooled after vacuum was reached in order to prevent condensation inside the mixer. Valve 82 was slowly opened to fill connecting line 35 between the transfer tank and the mixer. The mass of LP lost from the transfer tank to the transfer line was recorded. Valve 52 was slowly opened to allow LP from transfer tank 5 into mixing vessel 10. The follower plate was pulled upward by a pneumatic actuator to draw liquid propane into the mixing vessel until 500 grams of propane was transferred into the mixer and valve 52 was closed. LP and gellant were mixed with a churn plate frequency of 1 Hz for 2 minutes. Valve 72 was opened and GLP was pressed from the mixer into a storage container by moving the follower plate to the bottom of the mixing vessel.
The apparatus used is the same as for gelling liquid propane with the exception that the o-rings (24 in
It is possible to gel liquefied gasses having lower boiling points and higher vapor pressures than LP as long as the combination of temperature and pressure in the mixing chamber maintain the liquefied gas in the liquid state. Extremely low temperatures can be achieved by using liquid nitrogen or liquid helium as the circulating fluid for heat exchange.
The above examples are presented for illustrative purposes to describe the present apparatus and method. Although particular embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims.
This Application is a Divisional of and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/584,954, filed 23 Oct. 2006.
The U.S. Government may have certain rights in this invention pursuant to SBIR Contract No. NNM05AA56C awarded by NASA.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11584954 | Oct 2006 | US |
Child | 12874242 | US |