Acoustothermal phase change and acoustically driven atomization for cold liquid microthrusters

Over the years, a diverse range of physical and chemical phenomena have been explored and applied to devise reliable, small thrusters for stationkeeping and orientation of spacecraft. Commercial space flight is accelerating this need. Here, we consider acoustically driven melting of a frozen working fluid in the nozzle of an acoustic device, followed by acoustofluidic atomization from the nozzle to produce thrust. Fifty-five MHz acoustic waves generated by piezoelectric transducers couple into liquid and transfer energy in the form of both acoustic radiation and streaming, producing a directed atomized spray. A challenge in this system, as with most liquid-thrust systems, is the risk of phase change due to the extreme thermal environment in space, particularly in the freezing of the working fluid. Though acoustic energy is known to produce rapid and controllable heating, it so far has not been used to produce phase changes. The atomization produces capillary pressure sufficient to draw in fluid from a reservoir, though we do use a simple pressure-driven pump to support greater atomization rates. We provide a simple energy conservation model to explain the acoustothermal interaction and validate this with experiments. The specific impulse and thrust of this type of thruster are quite modest at 0.1–0.4 s and 12.3 μN, respectively, but the thruster component is small, light, and is without moving parts, a fascinating potential alternative to current technologies.