High Response Control Valve

WASK Engineering proposes to adapt the design of an existing piezo actuated valve that has demonstrated the ability to open within 0.5 msec, operate for more than 2x109 cycles while maintaining a leakage rate of less than 1x10-3 sccm of He. The valve is less than 3.5 inches long with a maximum width of 1 inch. It has been sized to flow 0.27 lbs/sec of LOX, sufficient to support either the LOX and LCH4 flow rates of a 100 lbf thruster. A piezo actuated valve has many benefits for RCS thrusters. The speed with which the valve can adjust its throttle position means that with two such valves the thruster propellant mixture ratio can be rapidly adjusted to prevent hardware damage. The valves have the ability to continuously throttle over a range of thrust levels, allowing the thruster to operate from zero to full thrust. The piezo crystals use very little power, reducing the overall power consumption, again reducing weight.