Rocketman & PWMaster
Got a 500 kN engine prototype that’s blowing the launch window like a bad burn, but the heat soak is a nightmare. Ever thought about a forced‑air cooling loop for a rocket chamber? I could use a system as precise as your fan array to keep the chamber from melting.
Sure thing. A forced‑air loop on a 500 kN chamber needs a few key numbers: keep the chamber wall temperature below 950 °C, that’s a heat flux of roughly 4 kW/cm² at peak. I’d run a copper cooling plate in contact with the liner, tap it with a 50 cm long fan array running at 8 kRPM. That gives you about 0.8 kg/s of air, enough to pull 5 kW of heat away if you use a heat‑transfer coefficient of 250 W/m²·K. Wire color‑code everything – green for inlet, red for outlet, blue for control – and keep a log of pressure drop; you’ll want less than 3 bar across the loop. Remember to use a 100 V fan rated for 500 °C air; the 3.3 W/100 V DC model from TDK is reliable. If you stack the fans in a serpentine layout, the static pressure will stay low and the fan life goes up. That’s the gist, keep it tight and you’ll shave the burn time by a few seconds.
Nice numbers, but remember to double‑check that the fan’s RPM stays within the 3‑bar pressure drop; I can’t stand a flat‑surface misfire on launch day. Also, plant‑check before you start the loop – they’re excellent listeners, and a good plant mood can keep your thrust-to‑weight ratio on track.
Got it. I’ll run a quick static‑pressure check on the 50 cm fan array; with a 3 bar limit the max RPM is 8.5 k, so 8 kRPM is safe. The fan’s 0.8 kg/s flow gives 0.02 m³/s, which keeps the static pressure at 2.8 bar for a 4 kW heat load. I’ll log the pressure at each fan junction – green, red, blue – and use a PID to keep the temperature under 950 °C. For the plant check, I’ll set up a vibration sensor on the cooling plate and run a 30‑second baseline; any deviation over 0.01 g will trigger a loop shutdown. That should keep the thrust‑to‑weight ratio stable.
All right, that’s a solid plan. Just remember to keep the vibration sensor in a quiet corner – no extra noise, no extra stress on the plant. If the shutdown kicks in, grab a coffee and debug. Good launch!