SPT TVC CAD

The Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system is designed to gimble SPT’s engine up to 12 degrees in any direction. The thrust is from COTS (Consumer Off The Shelf) linear actuators that are modified to contain spherical bearings to perfectly constrain the system.

Open

Load cell mounting:

The system only uses one, in-line strain gauge to capture the thrust data. Since we have potentiometer feedback on our fully constrained system, we know exactly what direction the thrust is pointing.

Gimbal capability:

The system uses one rod end on the end of the strain gauge to constrain translation while allowing rotation in all axes. We only want to use rod ends with strain gauges as we cannot introduce any moment into the reading. The rod end is rated for >5,500 lbf static loading, which provides a comfortable factor of safety for the 600 lbf engine.

Injector:

We are sporting an unlike-doublet injector for a simple yet high-performing injector architecture. We use 22 small orifices to create high atomization while allowing the mass flowrates necessary to hit our thrust targets. The IPA orifices were sized conventionally, but the nitrous holes were sized using a two-phase flow model to predict flowrates.

Open