Experimental study of the thrust 5 kN-level hybrid rocket motor using the baffle-plate

Abstract

This study is developed a 5 kN thrust level hybrid rocket motor for reaching an altitude to 30 km high. In the combustion experiments, low-melting-point thermoplastic (LT) fuel was used as the solid fuel, nitrous oxide was used as the oxidizer, and the performance of the motor was evaluated with and without a baffle plate in the combustion chamber. Combustion experiments confirmed the increase of fuel regression rate near the baffle plate, and the characteristic exhaust velocity C* was higher with and without the baffle plate, from 1094.7 m/s to 1119.9 m/s. This suggests that the baffle plate contributes to the improved performance of the LT fuel motor.