University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2018-01-01 The esiD gn Of A Rocket Propulsion Labview Data Acquisition And Control System Dylan Allan Ott University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Aerospace Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Ott, Dylan Allan, "The eD sign Of A Rocket Propulsion Labview Data Acquisition And Control System" (2018). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 1508. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/1508 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DESIGN OF A ROCKET PROPULSION LABVIEW DATA ACQUISITION AND CONTROL SYSTEM DYLAN ALLAN OTT Master’s Program in Mechanical Engineering APPROVED: Ahsan Choudhuri, Ph.D., Chair Norman Love, Ph.D. Jack Chessa, Ph.D. Luis Rene Contreras, Ph.D. Charles Ambler, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © by Dylan Allan Ott 2018 Dedication I would like to dedicate this thesis to my friends and family. Without their love and support, I would not have made it as far as I did. THE DESIGN OF A ROCKET PROPULSION LABVIEW DATA ACQUISITION AND CONTROL SYSTEM by DYLAN ALLAN OTT, BSME THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Mechanical Engineering THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO May 2018 Acknowledgements I would like to start of by thanking cSETR director Dr. Ashan Choudhuri. Not only has he provided me with the opportunity to participate in rocket propulsion research but he has also provided support when it came to internships or post graduate support. His vision and ambition to make El Paso a hub of propulsion research is good for the community and makes me proud to have graduated from UTEP. I would also like to thank my committee: Dr. Norman Love, Dr. John Chessa, and Dr. Luis Contreras. Dr. Love has taught me so much valuable knowledge about heat transfer and propulsion. Dr. Chessa has taught me engineering mechanics, stress analysis, and how to behave like an engineer. Dr. Contreras was my advisor for the NSF scholar program I was in as an undergraduate. That program helped support my education and convinced me to pursue a masters at UTEP. I also want to give my thanks to Mr. Hill. Without his guidance and role as the Devi’s advocate in everyone’s meetings, we wouldn’t be on track. His advice and years of experience are an invaluable asset to cSETR and I thank him for his contributions. I would also like to give my thanks to everyone at cSETR who supported me throughout my time here: Aaron Johnson, Raul Ponce, Pedro Nunez, Steven Torres, Luis Lopez, Arturo Acsota-Zamora, Justin Vanhoose, Travis Belcher, Norma Perea and Israel Lopez. I am grateful for all they’ve taught me and the time they’ve spent helping me. I would also like to acknowledge my parents Eric and Gabriela Ott and my little brother Brandon Ott for always being there for me and loving me unconditionally. I would also like to thank all of the cSETR staff that helped keep us all in check. I would like to thank Gloria Salas and KiraLise Silva for handling all of our finances and scheduling appointments. I also want to thank Jason Adams and Luz Bugarin for all of the hard work they’ve put in to getting the Fabens facility off its feet. v Abstract When designing a rocket engine, both the propulsion system and propellant choice(s) are an important deciding factor. Desired rocket engine behavior, specific impulse, and levels of thrust are all different between the various propulsion systems. A bi-propellant cryogenic liquid 5lbf, 500lbf, and 2000lbf rocket engine was designed and manufactured by UTEP. The 5lbf rocket engine is a Reaction Control Engine and the 500lbf and 2000lbf rocket engine is a throttleable Main Engine. To provide a reliable and safe data acquisition and control system for this experiment, a Real-Time control platform was needed. A compact DAQ system was purchased and configured to gather all of the data and a compact RIO system was purchased and programmed to provide autonomous, Real-Time control of the system. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... v Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................vii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. x Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Propellant Background ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Reaction Control System Background ........................................................................ 1 1.3 Data Acquisition Background .................................................................................... 5 1.4 Thesis Overview ........................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 2: Pencil Thruster History .............................................................................................. 9 Chapter 3: RCE Design ............................................................................................................. 15 3.1 Pencil Thruster......................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Completed RCE Design ........................................................................................... 16 3.3 Ignition Method ....................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 4: Chrome Design ........................................................................................................ 20 4.1 Chrome Engine ........................................................................................................ 20 4.2 Torch Igniter Design ................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 5: LabVIEW Virtual Instrument Design ....................................................................... 22 5.1 Queued Message Handler ........................................................................................ 22 5.2 Data Acquisition ...................................................................................................... 24 5.3 Data Logging ........................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 6: RCE Water & Hot Fire Testing ................................................................................ 29 6.1 RCE Water Test ....................................................................................................... 29 6.2 Future RCE Hot Fire Test ........................................................................................ 32 Chapter 7: Real Time LabVIEW Control................................................................................... 33 7.1 Field Programmable Gate Array Chip ...................................................................... 33 7.2 FPGA Hardware ...................................................................................................... 34 vii 7.3 FPGA Programming ................................................................................................ 35 7.4 Scan Engine ............................................................................................................. 36 7.5 NI SoftMotion ......................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 8: Chrome LabVIEW Control System .......................................................................... 39 8.1 Chrome Piping & Instrumentation Diagram ............................................................. 39 8.2 Hot Fire Instrumentation & Real-Time Hardware .................................................... 40 8.3 MICIT System ......................................................................................................... 41 8.4 Hot Fire GUI ........................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 9: System Overview ..................................................................................................... 44 9.1 Data Acquisition and Control Hardware ................................................................... 44 9.2 DAQ Instrumentation and Control Interfaces ........................................................... 54 9.3 Power Relay Hardware Interface .............................................................................. 55 9.4 Motor Operated Valve Control ................................................................................. 56 Chapter 10: