Chapter 743

And so it was settled.

Gu Lu went to the R&D department of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines to help.

Originally.

Director Bi also wanted Gu Lu to hang the title of deputy director of the R&D department of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines, saying that it was convenient to act.

However, he was politely rejected by Gu Lu.

Gu Lu doesn't have much control over power.

He just wanted to do his research quietly.

Thereupon.

Gu Lu was still a technical consultant, and followed Director Zhou of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine workshop to the R&D department located on the north side of the base.

…………

Although liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen engine and liquid oxygen kerosene engine are both engines, the two are very different.

The liquid oxygen kerosene engine is mounted on the booster and core first-stage structure of the Long March 9 rocket.

The liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine is installed on the core stage and core stage stage structure.

Moreover.

To some extent, the development of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines is much more difficult than liquid oxygen and kerosene engines.

The first use of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines was on the Long March 5 rocket.

Then.

The various performance parameters of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines are also very low.

and the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine developed today that is suitable for the Long March 9 rocket, it is simply a heaven and an underground.

But even so.

When the Long March 5 carrier rocket was launched, the exhaust device of the turbine of the hydrogen-oxygen engine was abnormal in the complex mechanical and thermal environment, resulting in the failure of the entire launch process.

To know.

The thrust of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines at that time was not high, but there was still a risk of launch failure.

Now the Long March 9 launch vehicle has put forward higher requirements for liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines, which makes the risk coefficient and difficulty it face almost exponentially skyrocket.

What are the main technical problems faced by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines?

Liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen engines, as the name suggests, the propellants used in this type of engine are liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

Hydrogen and oxygen, which are propellants, have low boiling and freezing points and low density, which brings some difficulties to the design of hydrogen and oxygen engines that are different from conventional propellant engines, mainly because of the carrying and storage of propellants.

Compared with kerosene, which is cheap and can be stored at room temperature, liquid hydrogen has a density of only 1/12, which occupies a large volume and requires huge storage space, which not only puts pressure on the weight of the rocket, but also increases the challenge to the firmness and reliability of the structure.

The boiling point of liquid hydrogen is minus 252 degrees Celsius, which further increases the cold resistance requirements of the container, and most materials will become fragile at such low temperatures, such as most of our common metals will turn into powders.

But hydrogen burns in oxygen at a temperature of about 3,300 degrees Celsius, and most of the material is vaporized. Therefore, the structure of the engine also needs to withstand high temperatures.

At the same time, the freezing point of liquid oxygen, which is another propellant, is only minus 219 degrees, so not only must the outside of the structure resist the temperature difference, but the storage of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which are also propellants, must be isolated well enough, otherwise the liquid hydrogen will freeze the liquid oxygen.

So, is it okay for us to artificially adjust their temperature?

The problem is that most of the cooling devices invented by humans are actually relatively bulky and not suitable for rocket carrying, so the storage of rocket propellant is basically thermal insulation rather than refrigeration.

For example, if an insulating coating is used, it will inevitably heat up in the engine environment, and the propellant will evaporate, so it cannot be closed and needs to leak and vent pressure. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen can also harm the engine if they boil under heat. The liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants of rockets are often filled last before takeoff.

However, since the propellant is not completely sealed, if the air condenses due to the low temperature of the propellant, it may clog the pipes and even explode due to the impact of ice crystals, which is not dangerous, so the air must also be removed before the engine is started, such as helium blowing. This is also one of the problems that comes with temperature as a result.

These volume and temperature problems are solved, and it is also necessary to ensure that the selected materials, each link of the engine structure can operate normally under the huge vibration of the rocket when it takes off.

This involves very complex thermodynamic problems.

All in all.

Designing a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine, especially one that meets the requirements of the Long March 9, requires a number of scattered problems.

It's a complex job.

It's much more complicated than designing a liquid oxygen kerosene engine.

…………

Director Zhou brought Gu Lu back to the R&D department where the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines are located.

Then a separate studio was set aside for Gu Lu.

It's a work environment that only some of the top names in the industry have.

Because in each studio, in addition to perfect equipment and rare materials, there are also five million scientific research funds every month.

Other words.

In addition to filling your own pockets, you can toss the five million scientific research funds a month at your disposal.

Presently.

Such a personal studio.

There are only ten in total on the entire rocket R&D base.

Because Gu Lu came over alone.

Director Zhou also picked two young and strong young men in the department to help Gu Lu.

After all.

Designing and manufacturing a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine is not only a mental work, but also a physical work.

Someone helped to help, and Gu Lu's side was always a lot easier.

After Gu Lu arrived at the studio here, he didn't rest and started working directly.

Same as the previous process.

Gu Lu first went to the data room and made a copy of all the design drawings and research results of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine department in previous years.

Then.

Gu Lu was in the studio, while snorting liver medicine, while frantically gnawing on these data and summarizing them.

Just reading these materials took Gu Lu about a week.

Read the material.

Now it's time to design the engine.

Gu Lu took out a stack of blank A4 paper and began to write and draw frantically.

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the issue of volume.

The density of liquid hydrogen is simply too small.

This results in a larger volume of liquid hydrogen fuel at the same weight.

The larger the volume, the more the engine casing is required.

This will undoubtedly add weight to the engine itself.

Presently.

Gu Lu thought of two solutions to this problem.

One is to compress the volume of liquid hydrogen.

But......

After compressing the volume of liquid hydrogen, it is easy to cause dangerous accidents, and a single operation mistake can lead to the explosion of the entire rocket.

This risk.

It's something that many people don't want to bear.

As for the second way.

That is to reduce the amount of liquid hydrogen fuel used.

About this.

Gu Lu already had a bold idea.

That is to change the construction of the engine nozzle.