The test bed for the performance of the space drives tests, equipped with state-of-the-art measurement systems, allows great flexibility, meeting the needs of all Customers. The control application uses real-time data using a PXI unit, which guarantees reliability and safety with minimal latency and high data acquisition frequency. Relevant procedures include prediction of failure modes, ensuring maximum safety of components and systems under test.

The engine test house facility is equipped with, among others:

• engine ignition systems,
• power supply systems,
• integration room,
• control room,
• chemical laboratories,
• test stand for characterization of injectors equipped with a 3D PIV laser measurement system.

In recent years, based on high-speed cameras and thermal imaging, we have gained experience in the registration and analysis of work of the:

• ignition devices,
• combustion chambers,
• injectors,
• hypergolic ignition,
• mortars,
• rockets launches.

We carry out tests of systems with a thrust of up to 15 kN in-house. Tests of systems with thrust up to 100 kN are performed at the facilities of our partners.

Rotating detonation tests

Detonation is a type of combustion in which a supersonic exothermic front propagates through a mixture of fuel and oxidizer. In this way, it drives the shock wave directly in front of it. The development of tests on the use of detonation combustion in engines opens up a number of new possibilities, both in the way of designing engines and in obtaining higher efficiency. The main advantage of the present solution is the possibility of reducing the size of jet engines, which at the same time means reducing their weight and production costs – the greatest challenge faced by designers of modern aeronautical engines.

At the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation, we have constructed two automated laboratory stands prepared for conducting detonation tests of combustion chambers and small rocket engines.

Over the past decade, we have conducted intensive tests on the application of detonation combustion in various engines, including turbine engines fueled with hydrogen fuel and kerosene, rocket engines fueled with methane and oxygen, and mixed-cycle rocket/jet engines. Recently, tests are being been conducted on the use of liquid rocket engine propellants, as well as on a ramjet engine fueled by aviation kerosene.