Dual-mode airbreathing propulsion system

摘要

The present invention includes a method for a dual-mode propulsion system. During the first mode of operation, intake air is liquefied through a cooling heat exchanger and condenser using a combination of stored liquid hydrogen (LH₂) and stored liquid nitrogen (LN₂) as coolants. The liquefied air is then separated into separated liquid oxygen (^SLO₂) and separated liquid nitrogen (^SLN₂), which may contain molecules of each other or other elements commonly found in air. The stored liquid nitrogen is replaced with ^SLO₂, while the ^SLN₂ is pumped back through the system with the stored nitrogen in a regeneration process. The ^SLN₂, LN₂, and LH₂ become gaseous as they pass through the condenser and heat exchanger and are burned in the dual mode rocket thrust chamber to produce thrust. In the second mode, the same thrust chamber is operated as a liquid hydrogen-oxygen rocket, where the liquid oxygen is the ^SLO₂ collected during the first mode.