6. Investigation into Peculiarities of Delivery to Launch Base of Rocket Propellant with Specified Gasing

Annotation: This article considers the issue of achievement of the specified value of propellants saturation by helium after their delivery from the manufacturers to the launch site. Knowing the fact that propellants gas saturation or gas separation processes are labour-consuming and costly this issue is of immediate interest. In order to solve this problem number of factors have been considered, which determine the value of gas saturation in the propellants delivered to the launch site and procedure to control the value of gas saturation by the fuel manufacturer has been developed. This procedure implies that shipping tank container is pressurized after being fueled with propellants at the manufacturer’s, the pressure is characterized by the value of the known initial deficit or excess of gas in the propellants, following which tank container is delivered to the launch site. During transportation tank container is subjected to various kinds of mechanical actions (vibration, rolling and pitching in the sea, braking, transshipment), therefore intensive mixing of propellants occur. As propellants mix, process of propellant saturation occurs when certain amount of gas transits from tank container’s gas volume into the liquid, therefore certain gas saturation is reached. Article includes the measuring results of the gas liquid medium parameters inside the tank containers with fuel in the process of fuel transportation to Ukraine from PRC factories and estimations of the measuring results using the developed model which confirmed the quantitative nature of the mass exchange processes, included in the model, going on in the gas liquid medium during transportation of the tank container with fuel equipment. It has been determined that due to inevitable errors in the measuring of the specified parameters by the tank container, the achievement of the specified gas saturation with high precision is problematic. In spite of the fact that this procedure does not provide exact value of the specified gas saturation, its application will accelerate and make cheaper the process of fuel preparation for filling operations at the launch site, which is especially relevant in case of fuel saturation by helium. Based on this fuel saturation by helium procedure, the complex technology is suggested, providing controlled gas saturation during fuel delivery and subsequent adjustment of gas saturation using launch site equipment. Therefore, this article develops and studies the original model of the controlled gas saturation of the fuel during its delivery to the consumer. Alternative of the practical use of the study results is suggested in the form of the complex technology of fuel saturation by helium, delivered in the tank containers from the manufacturer to the launch site.