Date of Award

3-18-2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Applied Science

First Advisor

Michael Hudson

Abstract

A pre-combustion micro-mixing chamber has been designed as a component of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's (UALR) proposed complete microelectromechanical (MEMS) hybrid rocket on a silicon chip. A MEMS pre-combustion mixer allows identification of pressures and flow rates for stochiometric mixing of combustion gases. The pre-combustion mixer has been designed to interface with a mass spectrometer for detection and characterization of combustion reactants and products as the first stage of a UALR hybrid micro-thruster. This research focuses on the design, fabrication, and validation of a pre-combustion micro-mixer that satisfies the requirements of MEMS micro-spacecraft and operates in space conditions. Gases are injected into the chamber via inlet ports and ignited. The combustion products are carried from the device to an online mass spectrometer to verify and quantify the combustion reaction. MEMS design techniques and fabrication facilities are utilized to design a micromixer. The mixing chamber has been qualitatively and quantitatively verified through combustion and mass spectrometry. The detection of water using the mass spectrometer confirmed mixing and combustion, confirming the ability to mix and ignite combustion gases under vacuum conditions. Therefore, for space applications a MEMS combustor may be utilized.

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