News Reaction Engines News

[Notebook]

You should see my kitchen, they've been here since Dec 2nd. I'm thinking of charging rent.

N.

 

[Notebook]

Its old news now, but I think I missed this back in December.

https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/r...h-temperature-airflow-test-facility-colorado/

WATKINS, CO – December 18, 2017
Reaction Engines, Inc. has begun construction of a new high-temperature airflow test facility where it plans to validate the performance of its precooler heat exchanger technology, an enabler of its revolutionary SABRETM engine. Located at the Front Range Airport near Watkins, Colorado, the test facility will be capable of exposing the precooler test article (HTX) to high-temperature airflow conditions in excess of 1800°F (1000°C) that are expected during high-speed flights up to Mach 5.
Reaction Engines, Inc. recently received a contract award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to conduct the HTX tests, which are designed to build upon previous successful testing of the precooler heat exchanger at ambient temperature conditions.

Haven't heard of Front Range Airport, are they known as an engineering base?

EDIT: They've tidied up the CV...
https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/aboutus/background/

N.

 

[Hielor]

Haven't heard of Front Range Airport, are they known as an engineering base?

Colorado, particularly the Denver/Colorado Springs areas, has a lot of engineering and aerospace firms. Most likely the Front Range airport was chosen because it's a good combination of both easy access (being close to Denver and on an airport) but also being away from more populated areas (like almost every other airport in the area)

 

[boogabooga]

It's interesting that they are opening operations in the U.S. I had thought Alan wanted to keep his company a British affair.

Go where the money is, I guess?

 

[Andy44]

Go where the money is, I guess?

Well, the word "DARPA" was mentioned in that article. That's definitely where the money is.

 

[Notebook]

Reaction Engines Limited (REL), the UK company developing a revolutionary aerospace engine, has announced investments from both Boeing and Rolls-Royce.
REL, based at Culham in Oxfordshire, is working on a propulsion system that is part jet engine, part rocket engine.
The company believes it will transform the space launch market and usher in hypersonic travel around the Earth.
The new investments amount to £26.5m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43732035

Excellent!

 

[Notebook]

https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/turbojet-runs-precursor-hypersonic-engine-heat-exchanger-tests/

Tue, 2018-05-15 04:00
Advanced propulsion developer Reaction Engines is nearing its first step toward validating its novel air-breathing hybrid rocket design at hypersonic conditions by firing up a vintage General Electric J79 turbojet to act as a heat source for testing, expected later this month.
The ex-military engine, formerly used in a McDonnell Douglas F-4, is a central element of Reaction’s specially developed high-temperature airflow test site, which will soon be commissioned at Front Range Airport, near Watkins, Colorado. The J79 will provide heated gas flow in excess of 1,000C (1,800F) which, together with conditioned ambient air, will be mixed to replicate inlet conditions representative of flight speeds up to and including Mach 5.

 

[Notebook]

Mostly a PR bit of news, but things are progressing:

More than 250 delegates ranging from local business leaders to top global space scientists visited the Westcott Space Cluster to witness the official opening by Torben Henriksen, Head of the Mechanical Department at the European Space Agency. They were able to see a static firing of Airborne Engineering’s rocket, the Lunar Hopper and enjoyed tours of two of Westcott’s newest facilities, the 5G Step-Out Centre and Business Incubation Centre, which are both run by the Satellite Applications Catapult.

That's Westcott in the UK.

N.

 

[Notebook]

Animation of the Test Facility 2 in Colorado, USA:

https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/about/tf2

N.

 

[Notebook]

14 March 2019
The development programme of the world’s first air-breathing rocket engine has taken an additional significant step forward, which will lead to major testing milestones being undertaken within the next 18 months.
ESA, together with the UK Space Agency (UKSA) recently reviewed the preliminary design of the demonstrator engine core of the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), which Reaction Engines will use to undertake ground-based testing at test facility at Westcott, Buckinghamshire, which is currently under construction.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/S...eenlight_for_UK_s_air-breathing_rocket_engine

Edit:

 

[Notebook]

UK's air-breathing rocket engine set for key tests
By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47585433

 

[Notebook]

Not sure I've mentioned this before. A BBC documentary on the founders of Reaction Engines and their careers:

Sadly John Scott-Scott has passed away.

N.

 

[Notebook]

UK's Sabre space plane engine tech in new milestone
By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47832920

Some how I missed this old explanation of the heat-exchanger:

Do hope this doesn't disappear like a lot of UK stuff.

N.

 

[Notebook]

Air-breathing engine precooler achieves record-breaking Mach 5 performance

http://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support...r_achieves_record-breaking_Mach_5_performance

Hurrah for us!

 

[Notebook]

Its not important, just curiosity.
The conical structure that mates the jet-engine to the input of the test heat-exchanger appears to be joined with studs with nuts on each end.
Why not plain nuts and bolts?

 

[Urwumpe]

Its not important, just curiosity.
The conical structure that mates the jet-engine to the input of the test heat-exchanger appears to be joined with studs with nuts on each end.
Why not plain nuts and bolts?

Well, likely because of the same reason why undercut studs are used inside combustion engines. They are more robust to thermal expansion and metal fatigue and are better in transporting axial loads - which you have in such a pipe. simple bolts would fail at their head ends earlier in such vibration rich applications, while a nut would last longer.

Also, such test systems require frequent modification and studs are again better in handling more differences in the thickness of the two parts joined together.

But I am no engineer, somebody might give a better answer there.

 

[Notebook]

I was a car mechanic before I hopped sideways into electronics. We had very good Technical Colleges in those days, day-release and night classes. Wasn't in great depth, certainly not University standard. Lots of practical and hands on.
They did have three heat-engines in the lab so we could follow the energy from chemical to heat to mechanical. Fascinating stuff I thought.

Did go into "Fasteners" a bit. Why studs are used. Example cylinder-head and block. If you tap a thread into the block and use a bolt to fasten the head, eventually wear happens on the tapped hole and you have to replace the block.(you wouldn't, there are ways round that).
If studs are used only the thread on the nut wears. Its a simple matter to remove the stud and fit a new one.
That's my experience with studs versus nuts/bolts.
Wondering if the studs are threaded all along the length or have unthreaded centres?

 

[MaverickSawyer]

If they're using aviation-spec hardware, there's an unthreaded section in the middle that is as thick as the joined materials, to prevent the threads from damaging the joined parts and to increase the shear strength.

 

[Notebook]

Thanks MaverickSawyer, that all makes sense.

Business was road-haulage as well as general garage work.
Do remember some of the larger diesel engines(Gardner I think) had a separate crankcase and block and they used studs rather than bolts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Gardner_and_Sons

 

[Notebook]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...igns-rolls-royce-deal-to-develop-mach-3-plane

I do hope that isn't Sabre/Skylon being sold down the river by the UK government.

Would be a double insult to Alan Bond and his team as he used to work for RR.