Effect of micro cooling channels on a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant microthruster performance

In this paper, a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant microthrusters with and without regenerative micro cooling channels were fabricated and performance test results were compared to determine cooling effect of the regenerative micro cooling channels. Photosensitive glass was used as microfabrication material, which is cost-effective for MEMS fabrication process. Nine photosensitive glasses was integrated using UV and thermal bonding and composed the microthrusters. 90wt% hydrogen peroxide was used both as monopropellant and cooling fluid. For hydrogen peroxide decomposition, catalyst was fabricated and inserted into the microchamber. Platinum was used as the catalyst active material and γ-alumina was used as catalyst support. Experimental testing was conducted to determine effect of the cooling channels and the chamber pressure, temperature and surface temperature were measured. The performance test results showed that it was possible to relieve the thermal shock of the micro thruster structure by as much as 64% by adding regenerative micro cooling channels on both sides of the microthruster chamber. However, the chamber pressure and temperature decreased by regenerative cooling channels due to excessive cooling effects.