Development of Ultra-Lean-Burn Preburners for Small Liquid Engines

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is developing gas generator cycle kerosene engines and also researching technologies of staged combustion cycle LREs for the next generation engine development. As a first step to study the staged combustion cycle, an oxygen rich combustion preburner was developed. The preburner is characterized with ultra-lean burn and high combustion pressure of O/F 60 and 200 bar, respectively. The exhaust gas of the preburner is so similar to high temperature pure oxygen gas that it may burn any metal contacted if the temperature is not strictly controlled. Hot fire tests showed that the combustion pressure was stable and the exhaust temperature satisfied the requirements of the average value and the spatial dispersion. This article will introduce the preburner and show the results of the hot fire tests