May 2024

LOX Pump Development Update (currently writing lol)

Spring Progress Summary

After the igniter hotfire campaign in February, I started upgrading my test stand for LOX pump testing with water and eventually cryogenics. I made a venturi flowmeter and finished designing and building a V3 iteration of the LOX pump. My original goal was to test with LN2 before going out-of-state for my summer internship. However, I was not able to adhere to the necessarily aggressive schedule due to classwork. Nevertheless, I was able to conduct 19 tests with water of the course of the semester, building a larger family of data for the pump and identifying the main blockers to reaching full power. Primary of which was that the electric skateboard motor controllers I had used for the fuel pump and previous LOX pump prototypes could not safely operate at the full design power of the pump. The current draw was simply too high for steady state, and caused excessive overheating. My plan for the summer is to investigate designing a more powerful ESC and/or explore off-the-shelf options. The mechanical design and fluid passages are largely finalized so I will also be working on manufacturing the final additive metal parts of the pump.

Development Overview

Hydraulic Design

Motor Modelling

Electronics and Control

Test Stand, Results, and Performance