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Low-Cost Integrated Valve/Injectors for Bipropellant Thrusters

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Missile Defense Agency
Contract: HQ0147-11-C-7686
Agency Tracking Number: B2-1259a
Amount: $498,855.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: MDA05-067
Solicitation Number: 2009.3
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2009
Award Year: 2011
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2011-08-19
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
1445 Lakeview Lane
Whitefish, MT -
United States
DUNS: 168168016
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Blaine Wright
 Mechanical Engineer/Owner
 (406) 862-9777
 bwright@montcorp.com
Business Contact
 Blaine Wright
Title: Mechanical Engineer/Owner
Phone: (406) 862-9777
Email: bwright@montcorp.com
Research Institution
 Stub
Abstract

The most significant hardware costs on a missile interceptor propulsion system are associated with the thrusters, for which there are typically four divert thrusters and four, six, or eight attitude control thrusters per interceptor. The largest contributor to the thruster cost is the integrated valve/injector. Integration of the valve and injector into a single body provides the benefits of low dribble volume, low weight, and fast response. However, the current designs are subject to serial manufacturing steps, adding to the component"s cost and scchedule. A novel concept for the fabricating the injector was proposed by Montcorp for its Phase I program. A full-scale design was demonstrated in the Phase I effort, which represents the first integrated valve/injector concept that allows complete fabrication of the injector faceplate (including orifices and acoustic cavities) before integration with the valve body. This design provides significant cost and schedule savings in the fabrication of the valve/injector. The Phase II program will accomplish continued design, development, and hot-fire testing of multiple integrated valve/injectors using the injector faceplate concept developed in Phase I. Duty cycles from the qualification of a characteristic production thruster will be used.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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