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Dear Colleagues,

Micro power technology has great potential to be enabled in space propulsion systems, i.e., in primary propulsion as well as precision pointing and orbital maneuvering. Moreover, micro power systems enable sensors and actuators, which can be easily integrated to form intelligent onboard systems for both micro unmanned air vehicles and small satellite platforms. These advancements are the result of significant experimental and modeling efforts, as well as technology demonstration missions. This Special Issue aims to seek the high-quality papers from academics and industry-related researchers in the areas of power technology at the micro scale for propulsion systems applied to air and space vehicles, e.g.:

High-performing micro power technology, assessment of existing technologies, and development of breakthrough technologies
Micropropulsion systems, thermochemical propulsion, electric propulsion, hybrid propulsion, MEMS technologies
Microfluidics, microcombustion, and free molecular flows
Micro actuators
Numerical techniques and computational fluid dynamics
Small satellite platforms and micro UAVs

Prof. Dr. Maria Grazia De Giorgi
Prof. Dr. Manish Jugroot
Dr. Pénélope Leyland
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

MEMS
microfluidics
small satellite
microcombustion
microactuators
micro UAV

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Thrust Augmentation of Micro-Resistojets by Steady Micro-Jet Blowing into Planar Micro-Nozzle

Donato Fontanarosa

Maria Grazia De Giorgi

and

Antonio Ficarella

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 5821; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11135821 - 23 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 822

Abstract

The present work investigates the impact of steady micro-jet blowing on the performance of a planar micro-nozzle designed for both liquid micro-thrusters and nitrogen cold-gas micro-resistojets. Two micro-injectors have been placed into the divergent region along the sidewalls, injecting a secondary flow of propellant perpendicularly to the wall where they have been located. The micro-jet actuator configuration is characterized by the dimensionless momentum coefficient c_μ. The best performance improvement is retrieved at the maximum c_μ for both water vapor (

Δ %_{T, j e t}

= +22.6% and

Δ %_{I s p, T j e t}

= +2.9% at c_μ = 0.168) and nitrogen gaseous flows (

Δ %_{T, j e t}

= +36.1% and

Δ %_{I s p, T j e t}

= +9.1% at c_μ = 0.297). The fields of the Mach number and the Schlieren computations, in combination with the streamline visualization, reveal the formation of two vortical structures in the proximity of secondary jets, which energize the core flow and enhance the expansion process downstream secondary jets. The compressible momentum thickness along the width-wise direction θ_xy in presence of secondary injection reduces as a function of c_μ. In particular, it becomes smaller than the one computed for the baseline configuration at c_μ > 0.1, decreasing up to about and -57% for the water vapor flow at c_μ = 0.168, and -64% for the nitrogen gaseous flow at c_μ = 0.297. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Power Technologies for Air and Space Vehicles)

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Review

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Open AccessFeature PaperReview

MEMS Vaporazing Liquid Microthruster: A Comprehensive Review

Donato Fontanarosa

Luca Francioso

Maria Grazia De Giorgi

and

Maria Rosaria Vetrano

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(19), 8954; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11198954 - 26 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1201

Abstract

The interest in developing efficient nano and pico-satellites has grown in the last 20 years. Secondary propulsion systems capable of serving specific maneuvers are an essential part of these small satellites. In particular, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Vaporizing Liquid Microthrusters (VLM), using water as a propellant, represent today a smart choice in terms of simplicity and cost. In this paper, we first propose a review of the international literature focused on MEMS VLM development, reviewing the different geometries and heating solutions proposed in the literature. Then, we focus on a critical aspect of these micro thrusters: the presence of unstable phenomena. In particular, the boiling instabilities and reverse channel flow substantially impact the MEMS VLMs’ performance and limit their applicability. Finally, we review the research focused on the passive and active control of the boiling instabilities, based on VLM geometry optimization and active heating strategies, respectively. Today, these ones represent the two principal research axes followed by the scientific community to mitigate the drawbacks linked to the use of MEMS VLMs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Power Technologies for Air and Space Vehicles)

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