Preliminary Study of a Self-Regulating Transpiration System (SERTS) for Application to Reentry Vehicle Nose Tips

摘要

A Self-Regulating Transpiration System (SERTS) concept has been developed through the design of ground test and flight hardware by means of which the nose tip of a reentering missile might retain its sharp shape. The concept uses the thermal expansion of a liquid to open a valve through which a liquid coolant flows, admitting the coolant to a vaporization chamber. Aerodynamic heating of the nose tip causes the actuator temperature to rise, opening the valve and permitting the coolant to absorb the heat input. The vapor so generated is expelled into the boundary layer so the heat transfer to the nose tip will be diminished by blowing. A successful ground test has been made at A.R.A.P. (Author)