Power plants – Reaction motor – Electric – nuclear – or radiated energy fluid heating means
Patent
1994-10-14
1997-06-10
Thorpe, Timothy
Power plants
Reaction motor
Electric, nuclear, or radiated energy fluid heating means
60 39511, 60267, 376318, G21D 500
Patent
active
056365128
ABSTRACT:
A nuclear rocket engine comprising a primary feed system (4) for pumping rocket propellant from a propellant source (10) to a nuclear reactor (6) and an auxiliary feed system (60) coupled to the primary feed system. The auxiliary feed system includes a space radiator (84) for discharging excess reactor heat into space and a motorgenerator (74) for creating electricity from the excess reactor heat. A recuperator (20) operates to heat liquid propellant before it enters the reactor and to retain heat within the system. The auxiliary power system can be configured into a high thrust mode (see FIG. 1) for withdrawing heat from the engine when the reactor is operating at full power, a low thrust mode (see FIG. 2) for throttling propellant flow and radiating heat from the engine during reactor shutdown and a zero thrust mode (see FIG. 3) for cooling the nuclear reactor and generating electricity for the rocket's auxiliary power requirements for the remainder of the mission.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2956402 (1960-10-01), Rae
patent: 3049870 (1962-08-01), Chanberlain
patent: 3110154 (1963-11-01), Edelbaum et al.
patent: 3113089 (1963-12-01), Nagey et al.
patent: 3116212 (1963-12-01), Lindberg, Jr.
patent: 3158002 (1964-11-01), Spillmann
patent: 3168807 (1965-02-01), Ledwith et al.
patent: 3274770 (1966-09-01), Carter et al.
patent: 3315471 (1967-04-01), Dailey et al.
patent: 3383858 (1968-05-01), Willinski et al.
patent: 3516254 (1970-06-01), Hammond
patent: 3778344 (1973-12-01), Walsh
patent: 4171615 (1979-10-01), Stewart et al.
patent: 4238925 (1980-12-01), Lowther
patent: 5129599 (1992-07-01), Wollen
patent: 5410874 (1995-05-01), Limerick
Newgard and Levoy, Nuclear Science and Engineering, vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 378-380 Apr. 1960.
Turner and Clement, "A Model of the Dynamic Behavior of the Coaxial-Flow Gaseous-Core Nuclear Reactor", Nuclear Technology, vol. 20, pp. 5-14 Oct. 1973.
Conference: Proceedings of the the 13th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, San Diego, CA, USA (Aug. 20-25, 1978) pp. 1678-1684.
"Reactors in Flight" Engineering, Feb. 28, 1958, pp. 268-270.
"Nuclear Rockets" by Jerry Grey, Nucleonics, vol. 16, No. 7-Jul., 1958. pp. 62-65.
"Rocket-Reactor Design" by Levoy et al., Nucleonics, vol. 16, No. 7-Jul., 1958. pp. 66-68.
"Nuclear-Rocket Timetable" Nucleonics, vol. 16, No. 7-Jul., 1958. p. 69.
"Los Alamos' Project Rover" by Raemer E. Schreiber, Nucleonics, vol. 16, No. 7-Jul., 1958. pp. 70-72.
"Beyond Tomorrow", Nucleonics, vol. 16, No. 7-Jul., 1958. pp. 73-75.
Aerojet - General Corporation
Kim Ted
Thorpe Timothy
LandOfFree
Nuclear rocket feed system incorporating an auxiliary power cycl does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Nuclear rocket feed system incorporating an auxiliary power cycl, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Nuclear rocket feed system incorporating an auxiliary power cycl will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-757794