Projectile launching system

This Invention relates to an armament system wherein a projectile, in cooperation with its launching tube, functions as a ram jet.

Various themes have been proposed to provide a projectile with a velocity greater than that achieved by a conventional projectile launched by a pulse of combustion gas.

US-A- 3,253,511 shows a hollow, full bore, projectile, characterized as a ram jet, disposed in a lauching tuge filled with a mixture of gasses. The largest outer diameter of the projectile is equal to the inner diameter of the tube so that the projectile makes a travelling seal with the tube, and all flow from forward to rear of the projectile occurs through the projectile. Gaseous propellant enters through a forward opening, ignites within the projectile, and exits through a rear nozzle. The projectile is provided with an initial acceleration by a first stage, solid propellant, rocket.

US-A- 4,051,762 shows a full bore projectile spaced forwardly of a sub-caliber cavity generator by a volume of liquid propellant. The cavity generator progressively injects liquid propellant into a combustion volume aft of the generator.

In US-A-2,971,473; 3,411,403; 3,418,878; and US-A-3,880,044 there are shown projectiles which are progressively accelerated along an explosive lined launch tube by their shock wave causing detonation of the lining immediately behind it.

In US-A-2,783, 684; 2,790,354; 3,086,424; and 3,613,499 there are shown means for accelerating a projectile through a gas filled launch tube wherein the expansion of the gas is initiated by means external to the tube.

In US-A-3,008,669; 3,273,334; and 3,386,249, there are shown ram jet engines in which fuel is fed from within the engine to be combusted on a portion of the external surface of the engine.

US-A-3,726,219 shows a cartridge case which remains with the projectile and serves as a ram jet engine external to the gun tube.

It is an object of this invention to provide a mechanism to convert high level chemical energy into useful work at high levels of efficiency and with few moving parts.

It is another object of this invention to provide a solid projectile which acts as a ram jet engine during its travel through the launch tube.

An essentiel feature of this invention is the provision of an armament system comprising:

   a launch tube having an aft end and a forward end and an inner bore surface;

   means for filling said bore with a propellant;

   means for inserting said projectile into said tube through said aft end;

   a projectile having a maximum diameter smaller than the minimum diameter of said bore surface to provide an annular gap between said projectile and said bore surface; characterized in that said propellant is a gazeous propellant and in that said projectile has an external surface with a configuration including

   a leading portion having a concave surface of rotation originating at a vertex and having a progressively increasing diameter to a transition,

   an intermediate portion having a convex surface of rotation originating at said transition and having a progressively increasing, maximum and decreasing diameter to an intersection, and

   a trailing portion having a concave surface of rotation originating at said intersection and progessively decreasing to a vertex wherein, in conjunction with said bore surface,

   said leading portion serves as a gas compressor,

   said intermediate portion serves as a gas igniter and combuster, and

   said trailing portion serves as a gas expander, when said projectile is inserted into and along said tube fueled with gaseous propellant.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

• FIG 1 is a schematic of a conventional air breathing jet engine;
• FIG 2 is a schematic of a conventional ram jet engine;
• FIG 3 is a schematic of an armament system, having a projectile in a launch tube, embodying this invention;
• FIG 4 is a chart of the performance of the system of FIG 3;
• FIG 5 is a schematic of an armament system embodying this invention showing a two stage system having a first gun to provide the initial acceleration to the projectile and to inject such projectile into the launch tube of FIG 3;
• FIG 6 is a chart of the propulsion path of the system of FIG 5;
• FIG 7 is a shematic of the transverse cross-section of a pressure chamber of the system of FIG 3;
• FIG 8 is schematic of the longitudinal cross-section of a pressure chamber of the system of FIG 3; and
• FIG 8A is a detail of FIG. 8.

Jet propulsion is a process whereby a projectile is propelled forwardly by the reaction produced by a mass expelled aftwardly away from the projectile.

A rocket has a simple form of jet propulsion. In a rocket, the reaction mass and the source of energy are both carried on board the rocket, which limits the propulsion efficiency of the rocket.

In an air breathing jet engine, higher levels of propulsion efficiency are possible, than in a rocket, because the reaction mass is not carried on board the projectile, but drawn from the surrounding atmosphere. Only the energy source, i.e. fuel is carried on board.

FIG 1 shows a typical air breathing jet engine. The thrust generated by this engine may be written in general terms as:$${\text{(Eq.1) F}}_{\text{N}}\text{= (}{\mathring{\text{M}}}_{\text{a}}\text{+}{\mathring{\text{M}}}_{\text{f}}{\text{) V}}_{\text{j}}{\text{+ P}}_{\text{e}}{\text{A}}_{\text{e}}{\text{- D}}_{\text{p}}\text{-}{\mathring{\text{M}}}_{\text{a}}{\text{V}}_{\text{∞}}{\text{- P}}_{\text{a}}{\text{A}}_{\text{I}}\text{.}$$ Where:

   F_n = net thrust of engine.

   M̊_a = mass flow of air through engine in slugs/sec.

   M̊_f = mass flow of fuel in slugs/sec.

   V_j = exhaust velocity of gases.

   P_e = pressure at exit of exhaust nozzle.

   A_e = exit area of exhaust nozzle.

   D_p = drag on engine pod.

   V_∞ = free stream velocity of the air or the engine velocity through the air.

   P_a = air pressure at the air inlet.

   A_I = air inlet area.

   Eq. 1 may be simplified by the use of some reasonable assumptions such as P_A = P_e and M̊_f << M̊_a so that:$${\text{(Eq.2) F}}_{\text{N}}{\text{= M}}_{\text{a}}{\text{(V}}_{\text{j}}{\text{- V}}_{\text{∞}}{\text{) - D}}_{\text{p}}\text{.}$$

It will be seen that net thrust will only be generated when V_j > V_∞. In a turbo jet engine V_j is made higher then V_∞ by compressing the inletted air via a compressor and then heating lthe compressed air by burning fuel. The heated and partially combusted air is then allowed to escape and expand as exhaust through an exhaust nozzle at high velocity. The turbo jet engine works well at relatively low speeds, e.g., up to mach 2, but at higher speeds, e.g., mach 3+, the ram jet engine is a simpler and more efficient device.

FIG 2 shows a typical ram jet engine. In a ram jet enging, the compression of the inletted air is accomplished by a number of weak shock waves in the inlet that compress the inletted air. Fuel is burned to heat the compressed air before expanding it through an exhaust nozzle. The ram jet engine is a very simple and efficient device, but its main draw back is that its efficiency falls off rapidly below and above its designed velocity. This is so because the inlet geometry required for any one mach number is different from that required for any other. This requirement for a complex, variable geometry inlet for use through a range of velocities is largely responsible for the limited utilization of ram jet propulsion.

FIG 3 shows an armament system embodying this invention. The system includes a projectile 10 travelling within and along the bore 12 of a launching tube or gun barrel 14. The projectile is symmetrical about its longitudinal axis and has an outer surface having various diameters, the largest diameter being smaller than the inner diameter of the bore 12 to provide an annular gap 16 between the projectile and the bore. The bore 12 is prefilled with a combustible mixture of gases and the projectile is inserted at a velocity adequate to provide ram jet function in the annular gap 16. The enable the ram jet function, the projectile configuration has (i) a compression section 20 shown as a concave surface 22 originating at a vertex 24 on the longitudinal axis 26 and terminating at a transition 28, (ii) an ignition point 30 located along a convex section 32 which follows from the transition 28 and approaches the surface of the bore 14 and then diverges form the bore surface to a transition 34 and serves as (iii) a combustion zone 36, and (iv) an expansion section 38, shown as a concave surface 40 which follows from the transition 34 and terminates at a vertex 42 on the axis 26.

In the system shown in Fig 3, the gaseous mixture is hydrogen and oxygen in the proportion of one part hydrogen to 2.7 parts oxygen. This mixture is rich in hydrogen to give it a low molecular weight. The mixture is preheated to 555.5K (1000°R), at which temperature the speed of sound in this gas is (2,800 ft/sec) 853.4 m/s. The mixture is compressed to 34450 kPa (5,000 psi) to provide a gas density of (2.9/ft³) 102.4/m³. If the bore 12 has a diameter of 120mm and the projectile is traveling at a velocity of 6096 m/s (20,000 ft/sec), then the effective intake of the annular gap 16 will be a mass flow of over 7,000 lbs/sec (3175 kf/s). The mach number of this flow as it approaches the annular gap is 7.14. An oblique shock wave 24a attached to the vertex 24 of the concave cone 22 deflects the incoming flow to become parallel to the annular surface of the cone 22. A pressure and a temperature rise occur as the flow passes through and is decelerated by this shock wave. The conical surface passes through its transition 28 further compressing the flow of the gaseous mixture until the minimum annular cross-sectional area of the annular gap 16 is reached. At this point, i.e., at the cross-sectional plane 30, the compression heat is sufficient to ignite the gaseous mixture. If it is not adequate, then a source of ignition can be provided, e.g., a flame holder.

Since the flow entering the combustion zone 36 is supersonic, i.e., mach number is 4.5, this system can be characterized as a supersonic combustion ram jet i.e., a scramjet. The combustion zone 36 provides a constant pressure, and leads to the expansion zone 38, wherein the gases accelerate to a higher velocity to provide thrust to the projectile 10.

Since the exhaust pressure is not required to be equal to the free stream pressure, as distinguished from the case of a free flying jet engine, the higher exhaust pressure here contributes to the total thrust.

It is desirable to avoid ignition of the gaseous mixture forward of the ignition point 30. This is accomplished by keeping the compression generated temperature below the auto-ignition temperature until very near the desired ignition point. Ignition and combustion then proceed very rapidly due to the premixing of the fule and the oxidizer and the preheating of this mixture, as distinguished from the slow combustion conventionally found in a free flying scramjet.

Even though the compression generated temperature is kept relatively low, a significant increase in pressure is available, e.g., up to 17:1, and a thrust of 167 tons (360,000 lbs) is indicated. This represents a power of (13 million horse-power) 9698 MW without any moving parts.

Although the compression temperature is kept below the autoignition temperature, frictional heat build up in the boundary layer may lead to premature ignition.

An arrangement for avoiding this premature ignition of fuel and oxidizer gases is shown in FIGS 7 and 8. In this arrangement the gasses are sequentially injected into the bore 12 along chordal paths to provide circular or spiral flow about the longitudinal axis 26. The fuel is injected first, e.g., from tangentially oriented nozzles 12A, and the oxidizer is injected later from similarly tangentially directed nozzles 12B, to provide a central core 12C of relatively pure fuel which is nonflammable, surrounded by a combustible by a combustible annulus 12D of mixed fuel and oxidizer. The tip 24 of the projectile 10 enters the central core 12C and the compression surface 20 of the projectile receives a boundary layer 12E of fuel which while quite hot due to friction is nonflammable. Thus ignition is precluded until the ignition point 30.

FIG 4 shows acceleration as a function of the velocity of the projectile 10, here having a weight of 2 Kg. The acceleration falls progressively from a start-up velocity of 3048 m/s (10,000 ft/sec) towards 6096 m/s (20,000 ft/sec) and drops to zero shortly thereafter. This abrupt loss in performance is a result of the increasing losses at the higher velocities. The maximum velocity possible with this arrangement is approximately 7010 m/s (23,000 ft/sec). Reducing these losses would increase this terminal velocity, but unless the losses were zero, a much higher velocity is unlikely.

FIG 5 shows a system for achieving yet higher terminal velocities. In the same manner that the ground speed of an airplane is increased by a tail wind, the terminal velocity of the projectile 10 can be increased by forwardly accelerating the gases in front of the projectile. In this way the terminal velocity of the projectile can be increased by approximately the velocity of the gas flow. The launching tube 14 has an open aft end 50 and an open forward end 52. A pressure chamber 54 is defined by an aft insertion valve 56 and a forward dump valve 58. Valves 56 and 58 may be ball type valves which when open will pass the projectile 10 there through. An exemplary chamber may be 120mm diameter by 20m long. A pressurized source 60 of fuel has one or more inlets 62 through a valve 64 into the forward portion of the chamber 54, (as shown in FIGS 7 and 8). A pressurized source 66 of oxidizer has one or more inlets 68 through a valve 70 into the aftward portion of the chamber 54. The chamber may thereby be filled with hydrogen and oxygen at a pressure of 34450 kPa (5,000 psi). A suitable projectile insertion means 72 is provided aft of the launching tube 14, to inject the projectile into the aft end 50 of the tube 14 at an initial velocity of 1.83 - 3048 m/s (6-10,000 ft/sec). An appropriate projectile insertion means, for example, is shown in U.S-A-4,043,248.

The muzzle of the insertion means 72 is spaced aft of the open aft end 50 provide a gap through which to vent the combustion gases from the muzzle.

A control means 80 is provided to synchronize the operation of the projectile insertion means 72 and the valves 56 and 58 the valves 64 and 70. It includes means 80a to trigger the insertion means 72 at the correct time in relation to the opening of the insertion valve 56 and the dump valve 58; means 80b to open and to close the insertion valve 56 and means 80c to detect the timely progress of the opening of the insertion valve 56; means 80d to open and to close the dump valve 58 and means 80e to detect the timely progress of the opening of the dump valve 58; means 80f to open and to close the oxidizer feed valve 70; and means 80g to open and to close the fuel feed valve 64.

FIG 6 shows the displacement of the projectile 10 along the bore 12 in the system of FIG 5 as a function of time. Initially the pressure chamber 54 is closed off by the closed insertion valve 56, the closed dump valve 58, the closed fuel valve 64 and the closed oxidizer valve 70. Thereafter: (i) The fuel valve 64 is opened and closed to admit a predetermined quantity of fuel into the pressure chamber 54. (ii) The oxidizer valve 70 is opened and closed to admit a predetermined quantity of oxidizer into the pressure chamber, substantially as an annulus around a core of fuel. (iii) The insertion valve 56 and the dump valve 58 are opened, and as they are detected to be approaching their fully open dispositions, the insertion means is triggered to accelerate a projectile 10 into the aft end 50 of the bore 12.

The projectile accelerates through the initially aftward flowing and then static mixture of gasses to approximately 6,096 m/s (20,000 ft.sec) whereupon it encounters a rarefaction wave moving aftward from the open dump valve 58. The opening of the dump valve permits the acceleration of a sufficient quantity of gas into the forward part of the launching tube to allow continued acceleration of the projectile to the desired velocity, e.g. (26,000 ft/sec) 7,925 m/s. This is shown in FIG 4 as the dashed line extending out to velocities of (30,000 ft/sec) 9,144 m/s. The acceleration after 6096 m/s (20,000 ft/sec) drops due to the reduction in gas density as a result of the rapid expansion of the gases when the dump valve 58 is opened, but is higher than would be possible without the dump valve.

As stated previously, the performance of a ram jet is strongly related to the efficiency of the compression section (i.e. the inlet). The compression is the result of the pattern of shock waves set up between the center body (e.g. the projectile) and the tube wall. This pattern and the compression achieved can be optimized as the projectile accelerates through different mach numbers by adjusting the tube diameter and, thereby, the throat area (i.e., the gap 16).