US 12,031,528 B2
Propellant tank with on-off control system for the flow of propellant gas and spacecraft incorporating such a control system
Dmytro Rafalskyi, Orsay (FR); and Javier Martinez Martinez, Paris (FR)
Assigned to THRUSTME, Paris (FR)
Appl. No. 17/428,739
Filed by THRUSTME, Paris (FR)
PCT Filed Feb. 4, 2020, PCT No. PCT/FR2020/050186
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 5, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/161434, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 13, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1901159 (FR), filed on Feb. 6, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0128047 A1, Apr. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. F03H 1/00 (2006.01); B64G 1/40 (2006.01)
CPC F03H 1/0012 (2013.01) [B64G 1/402 (2013.01); B64G 1/413 (2023.08)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A thruster tank configured to store a solid or liquid propellant, the tank comprising:
a heater configured to heat the tank and form a gas from the solid or liquid propellant in the tank;
an opening having a surface area configured to extract a flow of the propellant gas from the tank; and
a system for on-off control of the flow of gas, the system comprising
a grid configured opposite the opening of the tank, the grid including holes, the holes having a total surface area greater than the surface area of the opening of the tank,
a first thermal regulation system configured to regulate a temperature of the gas in the tank, and
a second thermal regulation system configured to regulate a temperature of the grid, the first and second thermal regulation systems being configured to adjust a temperature difference between the temperature of the gas in the tank and the temperature of the grid, the temperature difference being variable between a first value higher than a threshold to transmit the gas flow through the grid and a second value lower than another threshold where the gas forms a solid deposit on the grid to obstruct the holes of the grid.