Preparation for the test firing of the engine continues

May 11, 2016

Lin Industrial continues its preparation for the test firing of the liquid-propellant rocket engine. Initially we expected to conduct the tests on a test stand of Department 202 of Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), but this involves various negotiations, which may take months. That's why we contacted another organization in the space industry, which quite promptly conducted flow tests of the engine injector for us. Later that enterprise stopped the cooperation because of organizational and financial issues.

As a result, we decided to make our own test stand without relying on state-owned contractors. The assembly has begun already.

However, as we said before, we have managed to make a major step in the engine testing — flow tests for the assembled injector of the engine. Today we are sharing the results with you.

Flow tests are needed in order to check how the fuel and oxidizer will be sprayed and mixed in the combustion chamber, and to ensure that the assembled injector is watertight. Besides, it's important to understand how the actual pressure drop differs from estimated, and to adjust the supply pressure accordingly, to keep the flow rate and chamber pressure at the predetermined levels.

The flow test was conducted for the upper part of the engine — the injector flow system, which is a gasifier for oxidizer (without catalyst inside) having fuel injectors passing through it (see the detailed description of the engine). After fitting the engine to the test stand we decided to make a new framework specifically for mounting our engine.

After completing the framework we started the flow tests. First, water was supplied through the fuel and oxidizer lines separately at a pressure of 5 atm, then the same was performed at 10 atm, then at 15 atm. The last was a flow test for fuel and oxidizer lines simultaneously at 15 atm.