Colloquium: Andrei Pârvulescu (Space)

Many companies and universities are turning towards smaller satellites as more affordable options. For this purpose, at TU Delft, Micro-Electromechanical System (MEMS) Vaporising Liquid Microthrusters (VLM) are being developed to meet their propulsion needs. In this work, the updated design is remanufactured and prepared for future operational validation, heat transfer and instabilities studies. The manufacturing process was simplified, a testing interface was created, and measurements and extensive experimental characterisation were performed of the thruster and test set-up. The newly created interface allows for the study of heat transfer efficiency and convection heat transfer coefficient (HTC) from the silicon wall to the propellant, as well as multiple ways to study the instabilities in the system. With these results, the future researchers are ready to use the produced thrusters and testing interfaces.

Supervisor: Dr. Angelo Cervone