LEA stands for Liquid Engine ARIS. Following a line of successful hybrid rocket engine projects, ARIS is giving students the opportunity to explore the field of liquid rocket engines. Using liquid oxidizers and fuel, this project is the foundation of a new generation of ARIS engines. We are expanding the possibilities for research, collecting valuable data and facilitating testing new technologies and designs. The mobile testing bench we built allows faster, easier and local testings of both hybrid as well as liquid rocket engines. Combined with our newly developed data acquisition and control system we accelerate the development of future rocket engine projects.

With the aim to make testing easier, we have built a versatile test bench. We are able to test our engine at the airfield in Dübendorf, ZH.

We developed a liquid rocket engine using a cryogenic oxidizer (liquid oxygen, LOX) or nitrous oxide (N2O) and Bioethanol as fuel.

In order to make gathering and analyzing data more efficient, we are developing a flexible and expandable data acquisition and control system.

The igniter provides the energy required to start a rocket. This energy can be generated in many different ways, all with the same goal of cascading energy to increasingly higher levels with the last step being rocket ignition.The design chosen for LEA is a so called torch igniter or hot jet ignition, that propels hot gases and combustion products into the combustion chamber where they interact with it’s contents.

Renderings by Michael Schlapbach (Industrial Design Student, ZHDK)

In order to make testing more efficient, we are building a modular and versatile testbench. The testbench will be fixed to a trailer allowing us to test directly on the airfield in Dübendorf, ZH. This will not only safe a lot of time but also transport costs, making the firing cycles during the testing phase faster and hence enabling more efficient research not only for us but also for future ARIS projects. Withstanding forces up to 1.5 KN, the testbench is suitable for smaller rocket engines with focus on academic research. Through high modularity the testbench is compatible not only with liquid but also hybrid rocket engines, bringing testing to a whole new level.

The propellant supply system (PSS) supplies the engine with liquid fuel and liquid oxidizer. For each liquid a separate run tank is designed and pressurised with nitrogen as an inert gas.
In addition, a purge and draining system is designed to ensure a clean system for every firing. The valves will be controlled remotely.
Bioethanol is used as fuel because it offers a good balance between performance, availability and easy handling. For the oxidizer, liquid oxygen (LOX), was chosen as this is space industry standard. The main challenge here is the cryogenic nature of latter. It requires additional safety measures and extra care while handling. For this strict oxygen compatibility and prior cleaning for oxygen service have to be ensured. Moreover, shielding walls are installed to ensure the separations of the two propellant components at all times and protect our supply system