Experimental investigation on thrust modulation of SRM based on vortex valve

The technology of thrust modulation of SRM is a main direction of the SRM. Through much research on theory and experiment of thrust modulation SRM, many technological approaches and design schemes have been obtained. And vortex valve has been focused much more than other technologies, because it can modulate flow flux and its structure is simple as a flow control component without movable parts. In this paper, with the experimental system of thrust modulation SRM based on vortex valve, a series of researches were carried out to study the influence of structure of vortex valve, control flow attributes and vortex valve geometry. Some significant conclusions were drawn from the results. Without control flow, the fluid flow of vortex valve motor is same as that of normal motor. Reducing the height of vortex chamber appropriately, using big area of the gas passage, using big diameter of the vortex chamber and logicality choosing the diameter of the controlling flow injection ring are useful for improving the modulation performance of vortex valve.