Development of a Dewar Vessel to Investigate the Behavior of Liquid Oxygen in a Magnetic Field

Kurzfassung

Within the field of rocket engineering a well-known problem occurs when trying to start liquid propulsion engines under micro gravity conditions. Due to missing gravity, liquid in a spacecraft in orbit starts to float and capillary forces become dominant. This may direct the propellants away from a tanks outlet. In order to prevent cavitation at the turbo pump, these liquids need to be directed towards the pumping system to assure supply with gaseous free propellants. The paramagnetic attributes of LOX give the opportunity to solve this problem with a magnetic field, in contrast to implementing other complex systems. By utilizing a coil, the paramagnetic effect, due to the coils magnetic field, may direct liquids like LOX towards its center. If implemented at the right place, this could assure that the liquid phase of the propellant is always positioned at the tanks outlet. This scientific work shows that, with given model, the implementation of such a coil may become viable. In order to validate the model, benchmark tests are proposed. Based on previous work regarding positioning of liquids by a magnetic field, this thesis then develops concept and design for a Dewar vessel, to conduct the tests in. Finally matching the models results with the outcomes of the benchmark tests, would give way to a feasibility study for the implementation of the paramagnetic effect on a launcher application. The tests, however, will be conducted in continuation of the project after this work.