Experimental investigation on dynamic and steady performance of cold gas micro-propulsion thruster

Aiming at a cold gas micro-propulsion thruster, a high altitude simulation experiment system was studied, and the experiment system was set up. The thrust and specific impulse of the thruster were measured using the thrust test system. The steady characteristic of the thruster was determined. When the propellants are propane and nitrogen, respectively, the average specific impulse of the thruster are 83.5 s and 75.6 s, respectively. In order to acquire the dynamic performance of the thruster, the test system should be calibrated with the positive and negative step force, and then the delay time of the test system was 90 ms based on the calibration data. Under the specific test condition, the rise time calculation method of thruster and thrust test system was proposed. When mass flux of propane is 40 mg/s, the engine rise time is 27.1 ms.