Catalyst bed heater for hydrazine and green monopropellant thrusters

bandeau-catalyst

Why catalyst bed heaters ?

The propulsion thrusters are used for the positioning of the satellite in orbit around the earth. The monopropellant technology needs to reach over 200°C to start the decomposition process. The catalyst bed heater is fixed onto the catalyst body. With a rated 28 Volts, the catalyst bed heater is activated and preheats the propellant.

Catalyst bed heater for hydrazine and green thrusters

THERMOCOAX’s catalyst bed heaters technology has been running with hydrazine propellant from 2000.
Most recently, THERMOCOAX has developed a new concept of catalyst bed heaters for the new generation of green monopropellant thrusters. The technology has been proven on the PRISMA platform and will equipped in the Google constellation.
THERMOCOAX catalyst bed heaters are fitted with 1, 5 and 15 Newton thrust and also 400 Newton thrust when deorbiting is planned.

SPACE-catalyst-bed-heater2

SPACE - Catalyst Bed Heater

Catalyst bed heater key parameters :

Hydrazine catalyst bed heater version:

  • Cartridge design (ex:Ø 6mm, length 25mm)
  • Withstands 950°C
  • 3.2 Watt with rated 28V
  • Density 32 W/in²
  • Max. 42 Volts
  • Single coil
  • Dual coil for redundancy
  • Withstands 950°C
  • Insulation resistance >100 MΩ
  • ESA-qualified
  • 15 year lifetime

Green propellant catalyst bed heater version:

Coiled heating cable design

  • Withstands 950°C in Inconel version
  • Withstands 1600°C in platinum version
  • Up to 10 watts at rated 28V
  • Cable Ø 1mm, Length 350mm
  • Max. 42 Volts
  • 2 identical coils for redundancy
  • ESA-qualified
  • 15 year lifetime

Qualified and used in:

  • Meriad
  • Pleiades
  • Spirale
  • SSOT
  • Sentinel
  • Galileo
  • MUSIS