A preliminary study of oxygen rich combustion gas generator technology for LOX tank pressurization

Oxygen rich combustion gas generator technology has many applications to rocket engine technology, including LOX tank pressurization, turbopump driver, oxygen preburner and hybrid rocket applications. Previous work in this area includes an oxygen gas generator operated at NASA MSFC at mixture ratios from 20 to 200, oxygen gas generator analysis at ACUREX, LOX cooling of rocket thrust chambers at NASA LERC and the RD-170, RD-120, RD-253 Russian rocket engines.

This research focused on the development of a one dimensional energy balance model of an oxygen gas generator concept and an examination of the technological aspects associated with the concept. Priorities for this research included the understanding of the technical issues, the identification of potential uses and benefits, the examination of the operational characteristics, and the modeling of the operation of an oxygen gas generator. Recommendations concerning the gas generator configuration and operation are also included.