Today we will discuss working of Rocket engines. Rocket engine is the very popular engine about which everyone want to know. Today I am discussing this topic.
Rocket engines works on both liquid and solid fuel of combination of both. Liquid rocket engines further subdivided into two types mono-propellant and bi-propellant systems.
Mono-propellant engines operate either as a simple cold gas system or apply a catalyst for an exothermal decomposition of the propellant, such as hydrazine (N2H4) or laughing gas (N2O). Generally these type of engines are only in use for low thrust satellite propulsion systems.
Typical bi-propellant engines use either earth storable propellants, generally combinations of nitric acid or its anhydride with derivates of hydrazine, asymmetric di-methyl hydrazine or mono-methyl-hydrazine (MMH), mixtures of storable and cryogenic propellants, liquid oxygen and kerosene or fully cryogenic, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Although rocket engines show large differences depending on mission profile and staging of the launcher it is possible useful to separate them in four major classes.
1. Booster
2. main stage
3. upper stage engines
4. satellite
Working of Rocket Engine:
Rocket engines are energy conversions systems with a heat release in the combustion chamber which exceed by far typical values of nuclear power plants (~ 3-4 GW). While solid rocket engines may even reach power levels of more than 30 GW, the most powerful liquid rocket engines have peak power values of up to 20 GW but the majority works with values of less than 10 GW. Obviously such power levels are only possible with high combustion chamber pressures and even higher propellant mass flow rates which may exceed 1000 kg/s.
The basic concept of a rocket engine is the release of the internal energy of the propellant molecules in the combustion chamber, the acceleration of the reaction product and finally the release of the hot gases at the highest possible velocity in the convergent/divergent nozzle. This hot high pressure gases produces high thrust and this thrust lift the rocket.
By watching this video you know more about working of rocket engine.