Preliminary Design and Conceptual Analysis of an Electrically Actuated Pintle Injector

Sammanfattning: ”The Eagle has landed”. With this words, astronaut Neil Armstrong, together with astronaut Edwin ”Buzz” Aldrin, confirmed the safe landing on the Moon of the Apollo11 on July 20th, 1969. This achievement would have never been possible without the engineering behind the construction of the Moon lander. One of the most innovative features installed aboard was the pintle injector, a specific type of injector capable of precise metering of the propellants into the combustion chamber, and capable of throttling. Furthermore, the pintle injector has demonstrated its inherent combustion stability andgood mixing properties over time. The current work serves as a feasibility study for the use of an electric motor as the actuator for the pintle. This paper is the result of a 9-month internship at ArianeGroup GmbH, which is investigating the use of a pintle injector as a back-up option for a future ESA lunar lander mission. A preliminary design of the pintle was already produced, and the scope of this work is the design of the mechanical linkages and the actuation of the injector, with the choice of the method of actuation, the electric motor and the necessary components.