Claims
- 1. A hybrid rocket engine comprising:
a solid fuel grain; a combustion chamber defined in part by said solid fuel grain, said combustion chamber having a substantially closed end, an outlet end having a fluid outlet opening and a wall portion between said closed end and said outlet opening, said wall portion having an inner surface; and one or more fluid inlet openings in said wall portion for directing a fluid into said chamber to create a spiral flow of said fluid along said inner surface toward said closed end.
- 2. The rocket engine of claim 1 wherein said wall portion includes a side wall portion and an outlet end wall portion.
- 3. The rocket engine of claim 2 wherein at least one of said one or more fluid inlet openings is positioned in said side wall portion.
- 4. The rocket engine of claim 3 wherein at least one of said one or more fluid inlet openings is positioned adjacent to said outlet end wall portion.
- 5. The rocket engine of claim 4 including a plurality of said one or more fluid inlet openings positioned adjacent to said outlet end wall portion
- 6. The rocket engine of claim 5 wherein said side wall portion is substantially free of said one or more fluid inlet openings other than said plurality of fluid inlet openings.
- 7. The rocket engine of claim 6 wherein said side wall portion is generally revolute in geometry.
- 8. The rocket engine of claim 1 wherein said combustion chamber is generally revolute in geometry.
- 9. The rocket engine of claim 2 wherein at least one of said one or more fluid inlet openings is positioned in said outlet end wall portion.
- 10. The rocket engine of claim 9 including a plurality of said one or more fluid inlet openings positioned in said outlet end wall portion.
- 11. The rocket engine of claim 10 wherein said side wall portion is free of said one or more fluid inlet openings.
- 12. The rocket engine of claim 10 including a common manifold for supplying said fluid to said plurality of fluid inlet openings.
- 13. The rocket engine of claim 10 wherein said side wall portion is generally revolute in geometry.
- 14. A method of propelling a rocket comprising:
providing a hybrid rocket engine having a combustion chamber defined in part by a fuel grain and having a substantially closed end, an outlet opening opposite said closed end, a wall portion between said closed end and said outlet opening and one or more fluid inlets in said side wall portion; introducing a fluid comprising one of a fluid fuel and a fluid oxidizer into said combustion chamber through said fuel inlets to cause said fluid to move in a substantially spiral path along said wall portion and said fuel grain toward said closed end to form a mixture of said fluid and said fuel grain; and igniting said mixture in said combustion chamber.
- 15. The method of claim 14 including providing a combustion chamber in which said wall portion includes a side wall portion and an outlet end wall portion.
- 16. The method of claim 15 including providing a combustion chamber in which at least one of said fluid inlets is in said side wall portion adjacent to said outlet end wall portion.
- 17. The method of claim 15 including providing a combustion chamber in which at least one of said fluid inlets is in said outlet end wall portion.
- 18. The method of claim 15 including providing a combustion chamber in which said side wall portion is substantially revolute in geometry.
- 19. The method of claim 14 including providing a combustion chamber which is generally revolute in geometry.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/337,457 filed Jun. 21, 1999, which claims the benefit of Provisional Application Serial No. 60/125,910 filed Mar. 24, 1999.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60125910 |
Mar 1999 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09964294 |
Sep 2001 |
US |
Child |
10630091 |
Jul 2003 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09337457 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Child |
09964294 |
Sep 2001 |
US |