Laser-Assisted Micro-Pulsejet Thruster

A fundamental study of a laser-assisted micro-pulsejet thruster was conducted for a candidate of next-generation air-breathing micro-thruster systems. CFD analyses were conducted to evaluate internal phenomena, thrust performances, and influence of exhaust orifice for propellants of hydrogen-air mixture. Experimental investigations were also conducted to evaluate influence of exhaust orifices and the optimum configuration of the micro-combustion chamber. From the results, it was shown that the exhaust orifice was more effective for the improvement of thrust performance. Moreover, influence of combustor geometry on thrust performance for the improvement was confirmed. In our simulation and experimental results, the efficiency from ideal chemical energy, which is expected to be released from an ideal hydrogen-air mixture, into kinetic energy was a few percents. There are still some ways to recover this amount of loss with optimum combustor geometries and higher laser energies, and potential achieving much higher thrust performances.