SwanSEDS Liquid Rocketry - Liquid Rocket Engine

Founded in 2023, SwanSEDS is Swansea University's SEDS branch and aims to provide practical engineering opportunities for students across several cohorts including Engineering, Physics, Computer Science and more through learning experiences, national & international competitions, various practical workshops, industry networking, and much more!

Since our founding we have entered several competitions including Mach-24, Mach-25, NRC, Olympus Rover Trials and Race2Space2025, achieving First Place at Mach-24 and Mach-25. Last year we successfully built and test fired our first liquid bipropellant rocket engine which reached a max thrust of 1.3kN. Our test footage is shown in the video below.

Puff -- Our First Bi-Propellant Engine Last Year

Assembling our engine from last year; "Puff"

Engine test stand prep at Snowdonia Space Centre

Puff on the Test Stand

The Puff Team

This Year

This year we are developing a new regeneratively cooled bipropellant engine along with a custom Thrust-Vector Control mechanism to enable controlled flight when embedded with a test vehicle like a hopper/propulsive lander.

Our Short-Term Goals (This Year):

• Milestone 1: Develop a functioning TVC Actuation system that can displace 7.5 degrees half angle (15 degree angle) in a 360 degree arc under 10 seconds. This system can then be mounted later on into a Propulsive Lander to enable controlled flight under 120m.
• Milestone 2: Develop a custom regeneratively-cooled, throttleable N2O/IPA liquid rocket engine that can be embedded with the TVC for controlled flight.

(Both these milestones are planned to be tested and certified this year)

Our Long-Term Goals (Next 1-3 Years):

• Milestone 3: Develop a functioning flight control algorithm for use with the TVC on a designed Propulsive Lander
• Milestone 4: Develop a flight vehicle (Propulsive Lander) that contains feed systems and onboard avionics and management systems
• Milestone 5: Successfully test the Propulsive Lander and actuation systems using tethered and non-tethered flight tests according to the Collegiate Lander Challenge test plans and requirements.

This project involves the development of an additively manufactured AlSi10Mg combustion chamber and custom feed systems including the injector, throttling manifolds and piping. In terms of the TVC mechanism, this involves a custom data logging PCB that has already been manufactured.

For manufacturing of the engine, rapid prototyping capabilities would enable us to make the best design possible and allow our members to gain valuable experience in design for manufacture. Due to the complexity of our engine, we require several specialised manufacturing methods including CNC machining, additive manufacture, wire EDM and weldments. Several parts also require O-ring fittings and tighter tolerancing where rapid prototyping would ensure that the engine meets our safety requirements and operates as required.

(WIP Design)

TVC System Overview

The TVC System Architecture includes a custom PCB, as mentioned above and additional hardware as follows:

• Control Pi: For controlling the actuators and TVC system
• Connects to the external Test Site managament system to enable safe operation
• Sensing Pi: Processes Sensing data from Custom PCB and sends to a "ground station" laptop to manage the entire process
• Camera: for live viewing of the test site for safety

Actuator Design & Testing

Custom designed Actuator using COTS motor that requires custom machined housing and components. Using machined aluminium casing with nylon interface (SLS printed).

These actuators are designed to work with the engine mount to meet the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge requirements. They will be manufactured in the coming months and are a component we are looking to seek support from PCB for through this sponsorship. Hall effect sensors are used to determine their positioning and provide us with accurate movement for the engine.

What PCBWay Sponsorship means to us

In the future, we hope to expand this project to include the manufacture of a hopper/propulsive lander that will include feed system design, pressure vessel design and structural trusses.

As a student team, we face significant challenges when developing physical components due to our budget and timeline limitations. PCBWay's support would allow us to develop the best hardware possible, creating more advanced and effective designs while also being able to teach a larger group of students industry-applicable engineering skills in electronics, fluid systems, rocket design and manufacturing.

Socials:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100642683/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swanseds/#

https://www.swanseds.space/