A semiconductor bridge ignited gas generator

Compact, lightweight, self-contained gas generator systems are required for a variety of inflation or deployment applications. We designed a generic gas generator employing a semiconductor bridge, SCB, igniter to evaluate the characteristics of the black powder propellant selected. Because of the low ignition energy requirements and rugged design of SCBs, they are ideally suited to the volume, mass and severe environments for the gas generator applications. In our design, an SCB ignited a pyrotechnic (TiH{sub 1.68}KClO{sub 4}) which was used to ignite an end-burning consolidated black powder grain. We evaluated the performance of the gas generator using a computer program developed to simulate the combustion of the end-burning propellant grain. This model is in good agreement with the data from our test firings. In addition, we examined direct SCB ignition of black powder as a function of loading pressure and firing-set current. 3 refs.