High Response Control Valve

WASK Engineering proposes to adapt the design of an existing piezo actuated valve that has demonstrated the ability to open within 0.5 msec, operate for more than 2x109 cycles while maintaining a leakage rate of less than 1x10-3 sccm of He. The valve is less than 3.5 inches long with a maximum width of 1 inch. It has been sized to flow 0.27 lbs/sec of LOX, sufficient to support either the LOX and LCH4 flow rates of a 100 lbf thruster. A piezo actuated valve has many benefits for RCS thrusters. The speed with which the valve can adjust its throttle position means that with two such valves the thruster propellant mixture ratio can be rapidly adjusted to prevent hardware damage. The valves have the ability to continuously throttle over a range of thrust levels, allowing the thruster to operate from zero to full thrust. The piezo crystals use very little power, reducing the overall power consumption, again reducing weight.

Potential NASA applications include extremely durable, high-performance, low cost RCS systems for manned space flight to support high performance propulsion requirements such as orbit transfer, descent, ascent and pulsing attitude control.

The piezo actuated valve and a control system that can make use of the valves high response rate to control propellant conditions to a thruster would make cryogenic RCS systems more viable and potentially reduce the system complexity. This would be a benefit for future manned space missions where the higher performance of cryogenic propellants is needed. As there are a number of commercial firms pursuing manned operations in deep space, the valves and the associated control system could find many applications.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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