Wanted any PRACTICAL solution to liquid fuel reactor(rocket) motors

Wanted any PRACTICAL solutions to liquid fuel reactor(rocket) motors

MAJOR requirement fairly cheap and cheerfull even at the risk of muc lowwer power outputs

The project so far

attach a suitable 4 to 6kg reactor motor to a modified F5D 1 metr wing span RC model plane for fun to get small fast runs reaching speed of 250MPH plus for a few seconds

Requirements motor run times of some 3 to 5 seconds idealy with abilt to PRECISION light up in flight and PRECISION relight several time making say 4 motor runs of 5 seconds each and glide around in betwee motor burns and electric motor or bungee launch take off to get to ful height to commence first motor runs

reasearch to date elimates most off the shelf rocketry solutiuons fo various reasons

the pulse jet solutions is not what i wish to do in this time as th motors are very large for the KG push and cant be easly relight in mi air

Steam reactor power solutions look to be too heavy in this time but if somebody can prove other wise I am all ears as it looks supe cheap great solution for model cars but too heavy for model planes is m guess

CO2 bottle solutions look to be way too heavy and real low power s not pratical

Most solid fuels have in-exact firing times eg non PRECISION and fo multi fire ups would reguire several rocket motors and AP fue reloadables are crazy money so not pratical gun powder off the shelf solutions are tiny tiny power like a or motors and this project is closer to f or g or h motors and gunpowde large motors dont work as the large grain or pellets break up to easy making motor runs fizzle and pop and not work

Liquid solutions preferably would be mono props but those fuels hav issues

The best solution Hydrogen peroxide at 98% down to barely usable 80 types are impossible to source in Europe generaly and as I live an work all around europe I prefer to use easy to obtain fuels and the are extremly cautic (similar to acid affects ) so not practical fo cost and protective clothing issues

Nitromethane fairly easy obtainable in larger model plane shops or LH but sooooooo wicked expensive at ~50 euro ~£30 for 5 litres and eac flight of 20 seconds motor run would probably be 1/2 litre 500cc makin it 5 euros £3 euro a fight or ~12 euros £8 a minute engine run time an as nitro methane fuel is nearly all oxegen and nitrogen molicule i requires 9 times the same fuel as methanol solutions and worst it nearly impossible to ignite without extreme pressures and you stil realy need some outside oxidizer fuel component not much but some t get clean burn there buy making reactor motor very complex and mos likely not to be a practical solution

Other fuels like gasoline (petrol)and deseil kerozene all have n oxegen in the fuel and require to carry some form of oxydent such a LOX (liquid oxegen) with the complexity asnd weight issues of LOX bu probably not practical as supply of LOX are tricky and probabl expensive

other solutions like mix Nitric acid red humourous with kerozene agggghh realy not pratical

Hydrazines also way to dificult to get and extremly toxic realy no pratical

Alchols fuels like ETHANOL METHANOL have some 50% of the molicule a oxegen so thereby needing half the oxegen to supply the fuel(but yo need double the fuel compared to petrols fuels) but saving some weigh from less LOX but probably not practical as supply of LOX are trick and probably expensive

The better solutions for me would be to find a simplex way to oxegenat the fuel without LOX if a solution exists

one theory I have is to disolve KNO3 saltpeter into methanol

salt peter is tricky to get but not impossible

Methanol is easy and fairly cheap at ~15 euro ~£10 for 5 litres to ge from LHS

I cant find out from reasearch or inquirys to umpteen forums wil mixxing these two components make the methanol fuel shock sensitive o even explosively unstable imeadialy or over time whatever What I do know from reasearch is mixxing saltpeter KNO3 to nitr methane will make nitromethane shock sensitive so that is definitly non starter to use fuel which has any nitromethane added

I am assuming that even if salt peter KNO3 or some such other suitable chemical is mixxed with fuel like methanol there existst the probabilty that there will still be a need for extra oxegen from somewhere

I was hoping then to use nitro oxide in preference to LOX as it looks cheaper and easier to use than LOX when using small amounts but LOX might be cheaper in large amounts if I am forced to do methanol LOX solutions

Basically once I can solve the fuel oxidation issues i can start to construct a simplex reactor (rocket ) motor to suit the fuel

mayby somebody who knows the real engineering issues of fuels and motor components might have practical solutions

I shall assume for practical purposes that i can pump the fuel into the motor using simple air pressure from a bike pump into a suitable container such as RC undercarage air supply tin can or some spring loaded syringe solution whatever but pumping mayby 25cc or one onze a second wont be so easy

The first trials will be done on RC car on the ground to test the princibles before becoming airborne

any realy realy good ideas shoot but spare me the ram jets and puls jet andAP realoadbles

Ralf

Reply to
treehog
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Interesting project, but be very carefull with safety issues and also make sure all appropriate authorities are kept informed of plans. Anything to do with (possible) explosives is a very sensitive issue in the uk these days and you wouldn't want to spend 43 days in the cells while they slowly work out you are not a threat. Not anything as easy as when i were a kid and we made 'rockets' from weedkiller & suger etc, nearly blowing our hands off in the process on occasion :-). All the really usefull stuff, monopropellants etc are strictly controlled these days, though iirc, some Lightning restoration groups still have stocks of IPN (Iso Propyl Nitrate), which might be usable.

Google us or uk rocket societies for a start to see what the state of the art is...

Oh Yes, Happy New Year to All etc...

Chris

Reply to
ChrisQuayle

Nitrous hybrid? I know they can be restarted, but I don't know what restartable technology is available at the cheaper end of the market.

Damien Hall, at Uncle Bob's Rocket Shop,

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is the chap to talk to. He did the mini skijump and the reliant robin flights you may have seen on TV, and he knows all there is to know about nitrous hybrids. He's usually very helpful too.

Another possibility might be a reverse hybrid, where the oxidizer is solid and the fuel is fluid. Low performance ones can be cheaper and easier to restart than nitrous hybrids.

You don't need a license for a hybrid of the size you mention in the UK. You'll probably need to join UKRA or Tripoli or both, for insurance, flight certification and so on - and people are also more likely to help and be willing to supply stuff if you do.

-- Peter Fairbrother

Reply to
Peter Fairbrother

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