Innovative Thrust-stand for

Low-thrust Liquid-Propellant
Pulsed Rocket
Engines(LTLPREs)
Zahir Ummer Zaid
LS1515202

This presentation acquaints the thrust stand developed by the Key Laboratory for
Precision and Nontraditional Machining Technology (Dalian University of Technology,
Peoples Republic of China) for measuring the pulsed thrust from LTLPRE units, which
are widely used for orbit maintenance, attitude control, precision orientation, apogee

insertion, rendezvous, docking, separation, braking and midcourse correction of space

vehicles.
This presentation is wholly based on the journal paper THRUST STAND FOR LOWTHRUST LIQUID PULSED ROCKET ENGINES

Qin Xing, Jun Zhang, Min Qian, Zhen-yuan Jia, and Bao-

yuan Sun,The Review Of Scientific Instruments September 2010 .

Introduction

designed to possess a high susceptibility towards the transient nature of the thrust
from the LTLPREs.

based on a novel piezoelectric thrust dynamometer(TD).

Mainly consists of the following :

1. TD
2. base frame
3. connecting frame
4. Data acquisition system

possesses an integral static calibration system,which used a standard force sensor.

dynamic calibration is performed using the pendulum-impact technique .

following are some of the important specifications:

>sensitivity: 25.832 mV/N
>linearity error: 0.24% FSO
>repeatability error: 0.23% FSO

>natural frequency ( ): 1245 Hz

>thrust range: 5-20 N @ 50 Hz pulse

Necessity for LTLPRE-specific thrust stands

Conventional displacement-type thrust stand cannot accurately detect the transient

pulse forces from the LTLPREs.

Conventional thrust stands, in which the displacement of the flexure joints is detected by the sensors and
transduced to the required format, is incapable of detecting the displacements occurring at such high
frequencies.

Based on the principles of harmonics, for measuring such forces the natural
frequency ( ) of the test-stand should be much more than the pulse rate of the
thrust forces

Most conventional thrust stands have ( ) in the range of 1-5 Hz and therefore such devices cant be used for
properly measuring the pulse forced

For resolving the aforementioned issues,the LTLPRE thrust-stand was designed

conforming to the following conditions:
1.) Non-flexural joint for the force sensors- so that the device has a ample resolution
to deal with the transient nature of the force
2.) High to deal with the restrictions related to the harmonics of the transient

forces frequency.

Structure of the LTLPRE Thrust Stand

-the following is an illustration of the thrust stand

Thrust dynamometer(TD)

-is the core part of the TD and consists of an integral shell structure and two
piezoelectric quartz sensors.

-the elastic half-ring grooves are a unique feature ,for accommodating the peizosensors.

-the two piezoelectric quartz sensors are distributed on the two sides of the TD.

-Six y-cut quartz plates with shear piezoelectric effect, three signal electrodes, and
four ground electrodes are bonded together by adhesive under a pressure, as in the
above shown schematic.

-the TD takes the form a shell,with an appreciable degree of elasticity as its apparent
that a suitable elastic structure can effectively improve the high-frequency response of a
stand.

-the unique shell form adopts integral structure which includes two fixed ends, two
elastic double-half rings and a worktable.
-In each double-elastic-half-ring grooves, the piezoelectric quartz sensor is installed with
a certain amount of interference.
-the interference is necessary to transmit the static friction forced developed during the

deformation of the half-ring grooves.

-the following is the FEA illustration of the TD when subjected to a normal force.

different deformation on the two sides of each groove will cause static friction forces on

fitting surface, which are transferred to the piezoelectric quartz sensors to achieve the
measurement of the force.

Connecting frame
-connects the LTLPRE with the TD.
-designed to provide enough space to install the electromagnetic-valves and fuel tubes
of the engine.
-the main design constraint is the mass of the structure.
=

-------------------------------------(1)

Equation 1 relates the structural stiffness and mass to the natural frequency. In order to
have higher , the structure is made as light as possible, this vindicates the three-pole
structure of the connecting frame.

Base frame
-is used to hold the rocket engine with its horizontal axis approximately coincident with
the centerline.
-consists of a box frame supported to rigidly on a flat plate, TD is mounted on the front

face of the box.

-the static calibration system is installed on the rear face.

DAS
-consists of the following:

1.) a charge amplifier (Type YE5850B, Sinocera Piezotronics Inc., China)

2.) 16 bit high speed analog/digital (A/D converter DT9804, Data Translation Corp.,

USA)
3.) a computer with the data acquisition software DEWESOFT 6.2 (Dewetron Corp.,
Austria).
-charge signal from the thrust dynamometer is sent to the charge amplifier; the
amplified voltage signal is fed to the ADC. The ADC output is received by the computer

and are displayed real-time by data acquisition software.

Static Calibration Systems

-accomplished using an in situ calibration technique
-the system consists of the following components:
1.) hydraulic loading device (typeYS-60 piston pressure meter, Xian Instrument

Factory,China).
2.) standard force sensor (type MCL-L, Resolution 0.006 N, Beijing Zhengkai
Instruments Co., Ltd., China).
3.) a hydraulic cylinder, a piston and a wire rope.
-the in situ system renders the particularly low value of repeatability error(0.23% FSO)

-the static calibration method is briefly explained below:

A series of standard loads(5,10,15 N) are applied on the piston using the hydraulic loading device. The consequent
movement of the piston pulls the front end of the connecting frame through the wire rope. This induces deformation in
the TD and O/P signal are received. These O/P signals are cross-checked with the readings from the standard force

sensor(has one end connected to the piston while the other end to the wire rope),i.e. the standard force sensor acts as a
calibration reference.

Dynamic Calibration
-The purpose of the dynamic calibration is to determine the natural frequency of the
thrust stand. A steel ball attached to a string is conveyed to a certain height along the
circumferential direction and allowed to accelerate toward the center of the engine

model. Thrust response signal from the thrust dynamometer is acquired and transferred
to a computer. Fast Fourier transformation analysis from the DEWESOFT 6.2 acquiring
software is used to obtain amplitude and phase information from the thrust response
profile.

Thank You!