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Go UP young man!
SpeedUp’s first product is a flight-weight propellant tank. Shown above is the 30 gallon (114 liter) size. The tank is 16 inches diameter and the overall length including the valves is 58 inches. Other sizes are also available. The tank comes with two actuated ball valves: one on top for fill/vent, and one on the bottom for engine feed. The ball valve actuators can either be pneumatic with a pilot solenoid or electric. Also included are a pressure relief valve and pressure transducer.
All materials of construction are hydrogen peroxide compatible, and the tank will be cleaned for hydrogen peroxide service. Some parts are PVC so the tank should only be used as a short term run tank, not a long term storage tank. The tank is also compatible with a wide variety of other room temperature liquids and gasses. Please contact us for questions about your specific application.
The pressure rating of the tank is still being determined. All parts are rated by their manufacturers to at least 75 psig operating pressure, but they are all off-the-shelf parts intended for civil engineering applications so they have high safety factors. We expect the tank to have a minimum burst pressure of at least 300 psig, and perhaps higher. We are planning to test a number of tanks to failure to verify the actual burst pressure rating. This test will be performed by the time we deliver our first units to customers, and every tank will be proof tested. At these pressures, the tank is probably most suitable for a pump-fed or upper-stage application, although it could be used for a high thrust-to-weight, pressure-fed, sea-level engine in an application where specific impulse is less important, such as a strap-on booster.
The total mass of the system including the valves is 12 kilograms, and if filled to the top with 98% hydrogen peroxide it can hold 160 kilograms of propellant.
The price for the 30 gallon size is $6000. Discounts are available to educational institutions. We are still in the early stages of deploying this product, so if you have ideas for features you would like please contact us.
To order, email rsteinke@bresnan.net or call 307-460-3172.