Liquid propellant rocket engine turbopump drain

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11333074-B2
Application number	US-201716316703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2017
Priority date	Jul 29, 2016
Publication date	May 17, 2022
Grant date	May 17, 2022

Abstract

A liquid propellant rocket engine includes a pump that is disposed along a central axis. The pump includes a purge system, a collection annulus in fluid communication with the purge system, and a drain. The collection annulus has an outer diameter wall, an inner diameter wall, and an end wall. The end wall defines an annular channel that has a channel depth that varies circumferentially. The drain opens to the collection annulus. At the drain, the annular channel has a lowest point at which the channel depth is maximum depth.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid propellant rocket engine comprising:
a pump disposed along a central axis, the pump including
a purge system,
a collection annulus in fluid communication with the purge system, the collection annulus having an outer diameter wall, an inner diameter wall, and an axial end wall, the axial end wall having a first axial end wall section extending from the inner diameter wall and a second axial end wall section extending from the outer diameter wall, the first axial end wall section and the second axial end wall section extending to, respectively, an inner diameter edge and an outer diameter edge of a variable depth channel that varies circumferentially, the variable depth channel being axially recessed from the first axial end wall section and the second axial end wall section, and
a drain that fluidly couples with the variable depth channel at a maximum depth location of the variable depth channel to facilitate gravitational flow of a fluid to and through the drain.

2. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 1 , wherein the drain extends along a central drain axis, and the central drain axis slopes with respect to the central axis of the pump.

3. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 1 , wherein the drain extends along a central drain axis and has first and second legs, and the central drain axis is parallel to the central axis of the pump in the first leg.

4. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first leg opens at the maximum depth location of the variable depth channel, the central drain axis in the second leg slopes with respect to the central axis of the pump, and the second leg opens to the first leg.

5. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 1 , wherein the depth of the variable depth channel is a perpendicular distance from a plane of the axial end wall to a bottom-most location of the variable depth channel.

6. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 1 , wherein with the pump in a vertical position with respect to the central axis, the variable depth channel is a gravitational bottom of the collection annulus.

7. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 1 , wherein with the pump in a horizontal position with respect to the central axis the outer diameter wall of the collection annulus is a gravitational bottom to collect fluid, and with the pump in a vertical position with respect to the central axis the variable depth channel becomes the gravitational bottom such that upon tilting of the pump from the horizontal position to the vertical position the fluid at the outer diameter wall of the collection annulus flows into the variable depth channel and then into the drain.

8. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 1 , wherein the variable depth channel has a minimum depth at a channel location and also a channel width from the inner diameter edge to the outer diameter edge, and the channel width increases along the variable depth channel from the channel location to the drain.

9. The liquid propellant rocket engine as recited in claim 8 , wherein the drain extends along a central drain axis and has first and second legs, and the central drain axis in the first leg is parallel to the central axis of the pump.

10. A turbopump comprising:
a fuel pump portion disposed along a central axis;
an oxidizer pump portion disposed along the central axis;
a purge system located between the fuel pump portion and the oxidizer pump portion;
a collection annulus in fluid communication with the purge system, the collection annulus having an outer diameter wall, an inner diameter wall, and an axial end wall perpendicular to the central axis, the axial end wall having a first axial end wall section extending from the inner diameter wall and a second axial end wall section extending from the outer diameter wall, the first axial end wall section and the second axial end wall section extending to, respectively, an inner diameter edge and an outer diameter edge of a variable depth channel that varies circumferentially, the variable depth channel being axially recessed from the first axial end wall section and the second axial end wall section, the variable depth channel having a channel depth that varies circumferentially between a maximum depth and a minimum depth, and a ratio of the maximum depth to the minimum depth is from 2:1 to 5:1; and
a drain that opens at the maximum depth location of the variable depth channel to facilitate gravitational flow of a fluid to and through the drain.

11. The pump as recited in claim 10 , wherein the ratio is from 3:1 to 5:1.

12. The pump as recited in claim 11 , wherein the drain extends along a central drain axis and has first and second legs, and the central drain axis is parallel to the central axis of the turbopump in the first leg.

13. The pump as recited in claim 12 , wherein the first leg opens at the maximum depth location of the variable depth channel, the central drain axis in the second leg slopes with respect to the central axis of the turbopump, and the second leg opens to the first leg.

14. The pump as recited in claim 13 , wherein the central axis in the second leg slopes radially outwardly and away from the purge system.

15. The pump as recited in claim 10 , wherein with the pump in a horizontal position with respect to the central axis the outer diameter wall of the collection annulus is a gravitational bottom to collect fluid, and with the pump in a vertical position with respect to the central axis the variable depth channel becomes the gravitational bottom such that upon tilting of the pump from the horizontal position to the vertical position the fluid at the outer diameter wall of the collection annulus flows into the variable depth channel and then into the drain.

16. The pump as recited in claim 10 , wherein the channel depth is a perpendicular distance from a plane of the axial end wall to a bottom-most location of the variable depth channel.

Assignees

• Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc

Inventors

• Orr Neil H

Classifications

• F02K9/54

  Leakage detectors; Purging systems; Filtration systems · CPC title

• F05D2250/314

  the axes being inclined in relation to each other · CPC title

• F05D2250/294

  grooved · CPC title

• F05D2250/292

  tapered · CPC title

• F02K9/48 Primary

  driven by a gas turbine fed by propellant combustion gases {or fed by vaporized propellants or other gases} · CPC title