National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Small Business Innovation Research & Technology Transfer 2003 Program Solicitations

TOPIC T9 Stennis Space Center

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T9.01 Rocket Propulsion Testing Systems

T9.01 Rocket Propulsion Testing Systems

Proposals are sought for innovative technologies and technology concepts in the area of propulsion test operations. Proposals should support the reduction of overall propulsion test operations costs (recurring costs) and/or increase reliability and performance of propulsion ground test facilities and operations methodologies. As a minor element in a proposal for this topic, the offeror may include specific educational related research, technology advances, or other deliverables that address and support the agency’s education mission, such as the enhancement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction with unique teaching tools and experiences. Specific areas of interest in this subtopic include the following:

Facility and Test Article Health-Monitoring Technologies

Innovative, non-intrusive sensors for measuring flow rate, temperature, pressure, rocket engine plume constituents, and effluent gas detection. Sensors must not physically intrude at all into the measurement space. Sub-millisecond response time is required. Temperature sensors must be able to measure cryogenic temperatures of fluids (as low as 160R for LOX and 34R for LH2) under high pressure (up to 15,000 psi), high flow rate conditions (2000 lb/sec - 82 ft/sec for LOX, 500 lb/sec - 300 ft/sec for LH2). Flow rate sensors must have a range of up to 2000 lb/sec (82 ft/sec) for LOX and 500 lb/sec (300ft/sec) for LH2. Pressure sensors must have a range up to 15,000 psi. Rocket plume sensors must determine gas species, temperature, and velocity for H2, O2, hydrocarbons (kerosene), and hybrid fuels.

Rugged, high accuracy (0.2%), fast response temperature measuring sensors and instrumentation for very high pressure, high flow rate cryogenic piping systems. Temperature sensors must be able to measure cryogenic temperatures of fluids (as low as 160R for LOX and 34R for LH2) under high pressure (up to 15,000 psi), high flow rate conditions (2000 lb/sec - 82 ft/sec for LOX, 500 lb/sec - 300 ft/sec for LH2). Response time must be on the order of a few milliseconds to the sub-milliseconds.

On-line (real-time) sampling of percent concentration of pressurizing nitrogen in liquid oxygen systems. Instrumentation must be capable of sub-millisecond sampling of nitrogen percent concentration at cryogenic temperatures (as low as 160R for LOX and 34R for LH2), pressures up to 15,000 psi, and high flow rate conditions (2000 lb/sec - 82 ft/sec for LOX, 500 lb/sec - 300 ft/sec for LH2).

On-line (real-time) sampling and analysis of high pressure, high flow liquid oxygen-nitrogen mixtures. There is a significant need for real time, totally non-intrusive instrumentation for high pressure, high flow rate LOX systems, having the capability to detect the presence of other chemical species present in the LOX, which may have been introduced through the pressurization process. An example would be the detection of N2 in a LOX flow, where N2 is used to pressurize the LOX delivery system. The technology should be expandable to include other propellants.

Improvement in Ground-Test Operation, Safety, Cost-effectiveness, and Reliability

Smart system components (control valves, regulators, and relief valves) that provide real-time closed-loop control, component configuration, automated operation, and component health. Components must be able to operate in cryogenic temperatures (as low as 160R for LOX and 34R for LH2 ) under high pressure (up to 15,000 psi) high flow rate conditions (2000 lb/sec - 82 ft/sec for LOX , 500 lb/sec - 300 ft/sec for LH2 ). Components must be able to operate in the elevated temperatures associated with a rocket engine testing environment. Response time must be on the order of a few milliseconds to the sub-milliseconds.
Improved long life, liquid oxygen compatible seal technology. Materials and designs suitable for oxygen service at pressures up to 10,000 psi. Both cryogenic and elevated temperature candidate materials and designs are of interest. Typical temperature ranges will be either minus 320° F to 100° F or minus 40° F to 300° F. Seal designs may include both dynamic and static use. Plastic, metal or electrometric materials or combinations thereof are of particular interest.
Miniature front-end electronics to support embedding of intelligent functions on sensors. Requirements include computational power comparable to a 200 Mhz PC with approximately 32 MB of RAM and similar non-volatile storage, analog I/O (at least two of each, with programmable amplification and anti-aliasing filters, plus automatic calibration) digital I/O (at least eight), communication port for Ethernet bus protocol (one high speed and one low speed), support for C programming (or other high level language), and development kit for a PC. The package should occupy a space no larger than 4" x 4" x 2". The system should include an embedded temperature sensor, an embedded stable voltage calibration source, and programmable switching to connect calibration source inputs and outputs.
New and innovative acoustic measurement techniques and sensors for use in a rocket plume environment. Current methods of predicting far-field and near-field acoustic levels produced by rocket engines rely on empirical models and require numerous physical measurements. New methods are required that can accurately predict the acoustic levels using fewer measurements. New, innovative techniques based on energy density measurements rather than pressure measurements show promise as replacements for the older models.
Modeling of atmospheric transmission attenuation effects on test spectroscopic measurements. Atmospheric transmission losses can be significant in certain wavelength regions for radiometric detectors located far from the rocket engine exhaust plume. Consequently, atmospheric losses can result in over-prediction of the incident radiant flux generated by the plume. Accurate atmospheric transmission modeling is needed for high-temperature rocket engine plume environments. The capabilities should address both the losses from ambient atmosphere and localized environments, such as condensation clouds generated by cryogenic propellants.

Application of System Modeling to Ground Test Operations in a Resource Constrained Environment

New innovative approaches to incorporating knowledge and information processing techniques (prepositional logic, fuzzy logic, neural nets, etc.) to support test system decision making and operations. A requirement exists to develop, apply, and train intelligent agents, behavioral networks, and logic streams for rocket engine testing modes of operations and practice. Applications must operate statistically well on small and disparate data sources. The resulting products are inferential, representative, and they capture tacit and explicit knowledge. Statistic analysis must be supported.
Techniques to reduce required sample size to maintain acceptable levels of confidence in cost data. In order to leverage appropriate models and to manage the cost of data acquisition and maintenance, the minimization of required data sample sizes is critical.
Measurements and data are the product of ground testing. High accuracy, precision, uncertainty bands, and error bands are important elements of the data which is generated, and this must be quantified. Techniques and models to determine these parameters for active test facilities are required.

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