HYBRID ROCKET TECHNOLOGY

SUBMITTED BY: RITESH DUBEY

MTech Rocket Propulsion
MT/SER/10013/21
This presentation discusses the potential of the hybrid rocket engine. The advantages of a hybrid engine over solid
and liquid engines and its problems are highlighted. Some future possibilities for hybrid propulsion systems are also
cited.

Every rocket engine can be viewed as consisting of two parts; a combustion chamber and a nozzle. The
combustion chamber is responsible for producing hot gases at high pressure. The nozzle essentially converts the
thermal energy into kinetic energy and expels gases at high velocity (of the order of 2-3 kin/s). The increased
momentum of the exhaust gases produces thrust. Rocket engines can be classified into solid, liquid and hybrid
types.

ROCKET ENGINE

SOLID HYBRID LIQUID


SOLID ROCKET ENGINE
The solid rocket engine comprises a
solid propellant of prescribed geometry
loaded into the combustion chamber to
which is attached a nozzle. The
propellant is a homogeneous or
heterogeneous mixture of a fuel and an
oxidiser so put together as to result in a
mechanically 'good' solid. The
propellant is inhibited by a plastic sheet
that is chemically bonded along all the
surfaces where burning is not desired.
An igniter that is capable of (remote)
electrical initiation is used to start the
rocket engine. It is apparent that the
solid rocket engine is simple, barring the
making of the propellant which itself
involves high technology.
INTRODUCTION
LIQUID ROCKET ENGINE
The liquid rocket engine is far more complicated. It
consists of a feed system and a thrust chamber. The
feed system has tankage for storing liquid fuel and
oxidiser separately, and a bottle containing
high-pressure gas regulated to the proper level in the
tanks for expelling the liquids into the thrust chamber.
The thrust chamber has a combustion chamber with
an injection head and manifold (for propellants) fixed
to one end and the nozzle to the other. The injection
head has a large number of tiny holes (as many as
2000-3000) through which the propellants are injected.
In some systems, one of the propellants is circulated
around the thrust chamber to cool the walls. In large
thrust engines, the feed system will have pumps
driven by a turbine which itself is powered by
high-pressure gases derived from a gas generator.
HYBRID ROCKET ENGINE
A hybrid rocket engine appears to be
midway between the solid and liquid
engines in complexity. It uses solid
fuel and a liquid oxidiser. The
combination involving a liquid fuel
and a solid oxidiser is also
theoretically possible but is rarely
used since the solid oxidisers are all
crystalline powders and are difficult to
obtain in an acceptable form. The
liquid oxidiser is stored in a tank and
forced through an injector into the
combustion chamber containing the
fuel block of specified geometry
 COMPARISON OF VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPULSION SYSTEMS
CHARACTERISTICS SOLID LIQUID HYBRID

IGNITION Use of an ignitor No ignite for hyperbolic combination. No ignite for hyperbolic
Otherwise necessary. combination. Otherwise necessary

THRUST MODULATION Excellent Excellent upto 10:1

SIMPLICITY Simple Very Involved Between (i)and (ii)

POSSIBILITY OF EXPLOSION High Low Very Low

LOGISTICS OF TRANSPORTATION AND Poor Excellent Excellent

HANDLING, FOR LARGE SIZES PARTICULARLY

ON- OFF OPERATION Excellent Fair

RELIABILITY Good Fair Fair

 CHARACTERISTICS SOLID
O/F Tuned by the mixture ratio
used initially during mixing.
Remains constant
throughout combustion.
Initial temperature (Tm) The burning rate strongly
dependence of performance depends on Tm and this
indeed is a serious problem
in propellant making and
nozzle design.
LIQUID
Is maintained about same
throughout the combustion
chamber by using large number of
injection holes constant during
combustion.
Marginal
HYBRID
Is large at injector and decreases
along the combustion chamber
towards the nozzle.It varies
during combustion. This could be
a serious problem and needs
proper design of grain geometry.
Marginal
 ADVANTAGES OF HYBRID SYSTEM
SAFETY OF HANDLING STORAGE
The safety of the hybrid In considering very large
rockets stems from the engines or those which
physical separation of the must be subjected to harsh
liquid and solid handling, one of the
ingredients. The tremendous advantages of
chemicals used are such any hybrid solid fuel is that
that even if uncontrolled the grain can be cracked or
amounts of the liquid broken without having any
oxidiser come in contact effect on its burning. It has
with the solid fuel, the been conclusively verified
reaction is non-explosive that burning does not take
or non flammable unless place within cracks or
purposely ignited. between the grain and the
combustion chamber wall
of a hybrid motor.
HIGH ABILITY TO
MECHANICAL CHANGE OTHER
PROPERTIES THRUST
The binder content of a Advantage of hybrid rocket In comparison with the
propellant grain for an motors over the solid liquid engines, hybrid
all-solid system is usually rockets is their ability to rockets require only half as
kept to the lowest change thrust over a wider much feed system
practical level whereas range, and to shutdown and hardware, and therefore,
the binder level in hybrid restart. The vehicle can be can be less complex with
fuels is high, leading to made safe and inert by higher reliability. The
much better mechanical stopping the oxidiser flow to specific impulse of hybrid
properties. Since the the motor and venting the rockets is generally higher
solid is separated from oxidiser tanks. Regenerative than solid rockets and the
the liquid phase, one can nozzle cooling and liquid density-specific impulse is
also use highly energetic injection thrust vector greater than liquid
ingredients in the solid control are the other added bi-propellant rockets.
grain. advantages over pure However, the former
solids. system very significantly
enhances safety.
 The mixture ratio tend to shift during the steady-state operation of a
hybrid motor even if the oxidiser mass flow is held fixed and so is
the specific impulse.

DISADVANTAGES
Their combustion efficiencies (0.93 to 0.97) are low compared to
liquids or solids. They have lower density- specific impulse and
thus a larger system volume than solids and leave large slivers.

OF Regression rates tend to be very low, an order of magnitude

less than the state-of-the-art solid propellants and is

HYBRID
dependent upon the fuel grain geometry.

The pressure oscillations that can appear under certain

SYSTEM
conditions. Although these are not unstable, these have
reached in some cases double the motor operating pressure.
APPLICATIONS FOR SPACE VEHICLES
1. There is a large interest in hybrids for very large boosters of space shuttle class. Also, hybrid engine
providing very low thrust levels for large durations and capable of at least 20 or 30 re-starts can be
employed for space vehicles, intended for manoeuvering and attitude control. Hydrogen peroxide
hybrid rocket motors are ideal candidates for upper-stage missions because of their spontaneous
ignition and non-toxic characteristics.
2. Hybrid propulsion is particularly attractive for space missions that call for long-term coasting or
storage with intermittent operation.
3. Hybrids offer extreme resistance to space environments, along with simple on-off, very precise
impulse, and modulated thrust control.
Applications In Missiles
Hybrid motors can be used exclusively or in combination with solid motors for missiles
systems.

❖ One concept is to have a large post-combustor which initially has solid propellant for the
boost phase of the missile and the sustainer phase to operate for long duration in hybrid
mode.
❖ In case of air-to-air missile, where safety of carrier aircraft is of utmost importance,
dual-thrust hybrid system is an attractive choice for enhanced range.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
● It is pertinent to recall that the development of hybrids is particularly attractive in situations where the
development of other propulsion systems for large thrust (i) has not already been completed, (ii) is being
currently undertaken or (iii) is being planned.
● The cost of development of hybrids for a relatively small variable thrust engine is one-tenth of that for the
development of liquid engine. Now, even if the cost difference is not one-tenth, but one-half to one-third,
the saving would be very significant.
● Consequent upon these factors, it seems that a hybrid propulsion system, has greater possibilities for
many applications. This does not mean that a hybrid propulsion system offers a solution to every problem
of propulsion. But there are areas like high thrust engines for large duration where it appears highly
suited.
● For most applications in space and some in weapon systems, the most promising oxidiser appears to be
the liquid oxygen. Though cryogenic handling is an additional problem, this oxidiser is most abundant and
powerful. In fact another developmental project which uses liquid oxygen as the oxidiser is now in
progress at the Indian Institute of Science.
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