Loki Research 2014

Let's start this thread off with something cool. ;-) I think it might be safe now to say, "54/4400" hardware.

Albeit a windy day, it got into the upper 50's yesterday and the stars aligned just right for me to have everything I needed ready to test an L-3000 in the 54/4400 hardware. I was being a bit conservative calling it an L-2900, but the burn time proved to be a hair shorter than I expected, bumping it up over the L-3000 mark. Although my testing electronics may not be as accurate or as high resolution as the certification testing provides, it is still very close.

I'll be quite honest. After firing this motor, I had a smile and grin on my face for at least a half an hour. I was ecstatic to say the least. I could not have asked for a more beautiful burn profile. It was close to a mirror image of the scaled down 38/1200 J-1127 blue test. Next up will be Loki White, but I'm not sure when just yet.

Pricing on 54/4400 reloads has yet to be determined, but there are a very limited number of motor cases left to be had after the sale in November. The hardware is almost done and will hopefully be here in 2-3 more weeks. The nozzles ordered for some of these cases are a bit behind as I want to get the white 54/4000 load tested before committing to a standard of specifications in the design. Once testing is complete and I am satisfied with the performance, I will produce the nozzles for those waiting on them.





I'm day dreaming of seeing this sitting out on an away pad at BALLS sitting atop a 3" diameter M-3400 Loki Blue booster waiting to break mach 4. The booster should get it half way there.

[video=youtube_share;Km4xkiLrdaU]https://youtu.be/Km4xkiLrdaU[/video]

very nice Scott!

Tony

Wow, nice!


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Whoa...

For reference, that motor is 1,223 N-s more powerful than the current most powerful 54mm motor, the CTI L935 Imax. Wow!

Sweet! What grain geometry did you use?

WOW thought nothing could beat Kosdon L-3000

Hella fast burn there. Looks like a teleportation monster!

Scott , I got the hardware , all I need is some nice blue stuff .

Eric

I love the sound it makes as it pressurizing definitely awesome, sounds alive almost.


TA

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I love how it 'buzzes' the igniter stick out of the motor before turning on.

Thanks everyone. I hope I can get a blue of white one flight tested in Argonia in April. I have something that might be lined up in a MD. I should know in a week. That will be the real test, a dynamic one.

James, the total propellant length was 41.875", but that might come down 1/32" or so. 4 grains with 7/8" cores, the bottom grain was opened to .9375" but only 5.75" from the nozzle end. The rest was left at .875". The bore corners were chamfered to remove the sharp propellant edge and reduce the potential for a hard ignition spike. I don't yet know if this will be absolutely necessary, but I wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

The White load will have a different geometry yet, with smaller center cores to somewhat mimic a tapered core and to increase the volume loading. I thought about doing that on the blue but my goal was an L-3000. Having smaller center cores would have lengthened the burn time and the tail off reducing the average thrust figure.

When are you planning to certify the new reloads for the 2800 case? They look like some incredible power!

When are you planning to certify the new reloads for the 2800 case?

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As soon as I can, but as always there is a load of other work to be done. I need to test the white 54/4400 load asap to verify the nozzle design. Once that is done, I can get the phenolic nozzle blanks cut for both cases, then cut some graphite and make some nozzles, and then with the next batch of red and blue I'll make some certification reloads. I had 3 ready for the red 2800 but I had to use one of them for the last red test.

There will also be some other very exciting developments to be announced for these reloads once they are certified. So if you are in the planning stages of a new 54mm rocket or sustainer, you may not want to make any concrete plans just yet. ;-)

Loki Research said:

So if you are in the planning stages of a new 54mm rocket or sustainer, you may not want to make any concrete plans just yet. ;-)

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Head end ignition?!!?

patelldp said:

Head end ignition?!!?

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++++

I would really like the ability to have head end ignition, even for ground starting, since the igniter would never be spit out.

I don't know if that would require sacrificing the tracking grain, though.

Thats what I was gonna say Dan . Maybe it even comes with a latex burst disk to help start up ?

Eric

Loki Research said:

So if you are in the planning stages of a new 54mm rocket or sustainer, you may not want to make any concrete plans just yet. ;-)

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I am really wishing that said 38mm. It's okay, someday I'll start buying bigger motors.

What was the mass before and after burn of the L3k? I want to throw together a simulation.

CarVac said:

What was the mass before and after burn of the L3k? I want to throw together a simulation.

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Me too!

That's a nice motor. I love these erosive designs. I'm building a 72" long 54mm to stress test my new 54mm fin can.

Binder Design said:

That's a nice motor. I love these erosive designs. I'm building a 72" long 54mm to stress test my new 54mm fin can.

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Would something like that have to be single-use, or would there be some way to protect the case against utter thermal obliteration?

CarVac said:

Would something like that have to be single-use, or would there be some way to protect the case against utter thermal obliteration?

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With a .50 second burn heat won't be a problem. Metal fatigue might. My 38mm L that is six feet long is single use because of that. The 54mm M will be less extreme, so with hope I will get more than one firing out if it.

Scott did a great job designing his motor. Note that there is no huge erosive spike at startup. That's usually what kills these higher l/d motors. And the tail off/sliver burning is kept to a minimum.

Next up is a Loki White L-2450 with around 4,800Ns and a 1.95 second burn. Larger stepped cores give a longer produce a longer tail off and lower average thrust, but also more total Ns. There's still some headroom for a little improvement here too.





[video=youtube;jfSoRa8q-t0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfSoRa8q-t0&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Dang.

Wow.

Good googly moogly

Between this and the 54/2800 videos for red and blue, I'm getting drool all over my phone

While performance is important to me i'm mostly interested in the show of a motor, so I got out my scaling ruler and and did a little math, this motor produces a flame plume that is roughly 12 feet long and almost 4 feet in diameter!

Now I know it is hard to get an exact number from just a picture and my point of reference is based on the case size which may be a bit off but I would bet the farm that i'm with in a few inches. If anything my numbers are conservative.

This motor is a monster no matter how you measure it, must be defining to be next to as well. :headbang:


TA

thobin said:

While performance is important to me i'm mostly interested in the show of a motor, so I got out my scaling ruler and and did a little math, this motor produces a flame plume that is roughly 12 feet long and almost 4 feet in diameter!

Now I know it is hard to get an exact number from just a picture and my point of reference is based on the case size which may be a bit off but I would bet the farm that i'm with in a few inches. If anything my numbers are conservative.

This motor is a monster no matter how you measure it, must be defining to be next to as well. :headbang:


TA

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Close. Measuring pixels in GIMP, I get 11 feet long.