Day 29: WE HAVE IGNITION!

I spent the morning battling the leaky connection monster. After that war was finally won, I dragged everything out to the holding bay where we typically store the race team's tractor trailer (plenty of room) and gathered everyone who has been apart of the journey so far. The first test was with 91% IPA straight from the store. When I would run the fuel, there was a great flamethrower effect until I hit the nitrous. Then the flame went out... I tried a couple different combinations with the propane torch across the injector as my ignitor and I couldn't get the combination to burn. I then realized that my nitrous tank was almost empty and that very little liquid N2O was actually getting out of the injector. Coupled with the fact that there is only supposed to be a 100 psi drop across the injectors, the mixture was off balance. Since I can't dial back the pressure on  the N2O to anything less than about 400 psi, I let the gaseous nitrous flow and reduced the injector pressure to 45 psi to try to reduce the richness caused by the, now gaseous, nitrous flow. All this tinkering cause my crowd to dwindle.

I paired the correct flows with first fuel followed by oxidizer and IGNITION! The 10-15 foot flame roared to life with a thunder. The deep rumbling sound vibrated that whole building and then the masses poured back into the holding bay. There is no question about it. This is a real rocket.

After a couple tests of 91% IPA and 99% methanol (HEET fuel system cleaner), I had to get my nitrous tank refilled ASAP. I called around and it isn't as easy as I thought it was. All of the big companies like BOC and Praxair need either a letter from a race track or league documenting that you are using it for a racing application or they need to send a representative to your company to see that it is legitimate. Even though my company name is Advanced Engine Technologies....? I called around to a couple performance shop where I was finally able to find a company that would fill the tank today. The quote of $6 per pound was like hearing fingernails on a chalkboard. I did some research and found that price to be a little high of the average $5.50 per pound so I went to get it filled. Then the real tests began.

I tested 91% IPA, 99% IPA with some proprietary chemical that makes it turn yellow (Iso-HEET), and 99% methanol. There is no doubt that methanol burns the hottest. Methanol is on an completely different level compared to the more energy dense IPA. The biggest contrast was between the 91% and 99%. The 99% FAR surpassed the 91% in terms of intensity and burn rate. I expected a difference but not that big. The pictures help but the videos say it all.

99% IPA

99% IPA

91% IPA

91% IPA

99% Methanol

99% Methanol

99% Methanol

99% IPA

91% IPA

99% Methanol

99% Methanol Injection Pattern