Results of the Vulcain X technological demonstration

摘要

The intent of this paper is to provide an overview of the VULCAIN X technological demonstration roadmap progress at mid 2011, i.e. at the time of near completion of the program. The VULCAIN X demonstration program, based on the LOX/LH_2 VULCAIN 2 engine, encompasses various systems and sub-systems demonstrations of new propulsion technologies. The main targets are cost reduction, robustness, increased reliability, all of them focused on VULCAIN 2 engine evolutions. The different "Demos X" that were performed are the Hydrogen turbo-pump TPX, the gas generator GGPX, high bandwidth regulation valves VRR, the electrical hot gas valve VGCE and the sandwich nozzle extension NEX. At system level, the main subjects which are being explored are the simplification of the chill-down procedure, immediate tests diagnosis (health monitoring system), mechanical integration evolutions and exploration of smooth transients. The testing rationale of this program is: 1. Sub-systems demonstration alone or on a power-pack combining GPX and TPX in order to characterize and validate the behavior of the different sub-systems 2. System demonstration on a VULCAIN 2 engine in the frame of an ARTA test campaign, ARTA being a program dedicated to perform production follow-up tests in order to demonstrate that the flight worthiness of production hardware is maintained. The VULCAIN X program is managed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and involves different partners in Europe. The publication will focus on the major achievements up to 2011, i.e. the results of the sub-system test either alone or in a powerpack configuration, the results of the demonstration performed at system level, i.e essentially the ARTA 7 and 8 tests. The kick-off of the program took place at the end of September 2005. The first system passenger tests took place on the production follow-up ARTA 7 campaign during the summer of 2006. The sub-system tests were performed in 2010.