Application of the 3D-Printing and Commercial Off-The-Shelf Components in the Design of a Micro-Propulsion System

For the universities and private companies that have just been involved in the field of small satellites, it’s not easy to develop a propulsion system without special test equipment, rich experience and commercially available astronautics grade components, especially in the countries where the astronautic components sales market has not been fully developed.Accordingly, a micro propulsion system for small satellites is being developed, which contains welded tanks, a 3Dprinted steam storage tank, heaters, solenoid valves and nozzles. HFC-134a is chosen to be the propellant because of its safety and accessibility. The steam storage tank and isolation solenoid valve nearby are used for pressure reducing, which avoids buying an astronautic grade pressure reducing valve from the market and make the propellant vaporized. Additive manufacturing is used to make special-shaped surfaces, reduce welding joints and the time of the steam storage tank production. In order to prevent the liquid propellant from entering the pipeline, the outlet of the propellant tank extends to the middle of the tank through a pipe. HFC-134a liquid will be infiltrated into aluminum alloy tank wall away from the outlet, which avoids the use of a Propellant Management Device (PMD).A prototype of the system is being developed and tested. A simple thrust measurement method has been developed, and a large amount of experimental data has been obtained. The requirement, selection, design, prototype test and difficulties are reviewed in this paper, to provide a reference for the development of other propulsion systems.