Responsible Engineers:
Max Kwon (2022) maxkwon@mit.edu
Pedro Pavao (2022)
Purpose
The Staging Cone serves as an attachment interface between the booster and the sustainer stages of Phoenix. After burn of out the booster motor, drag forces should be larger on the booster and the sustainer should passively separate from its resting position on the Staging Cone. Recovery soft goods are stored in the Staging Cone and are released when the piston separates the Staging Cone from the booster airframe.
Requirements
- Must interface with the Sustainer nozzle
- Must withstand the weight of the Sustainer (during flight)
- Must be able to be machined using tooling in the Deep (MIT Machine Shop)
Design Details
Materials:
Aluminum 6061-T6 Round Stock (Cone)
Aluminum 6061-t6 Tube Stock (Base)
#8-32 Fasteners (18-8 Steel)
Software Used:
SolidWorks CAD and FEA
Design and Analysis
Design Brief:
The Staging Cone is designed to be able to attach by way of shear pins to the booster airframe and to the sustainer by a geometrical fit. The upper cone of the Staging Cone is to be the exact geometry (in the positive) of the sustainer nozzle (expansion section) so that is sits properly with no tilt and such that the entire outer area inside the nozzle is in contact with the cone. This calls for fine, yet unspecified, tolerances.
In progress
Changes from Demo II
The main design change from Demo II is the that the Staging Cone (Phoenix) will be made in two separate pieces. This was done for the purpose of making machining faster and more practical. It may also have the unintended (but welcome) consequence of making the part cheaper. This is due to the fact that there is less material that has to be cut away since the smaller diameter cone is made from a separate piece of stock from the larger diameter base (booster airframe retention).
Manufacturing
Preliminary Plan:
- Take both stock and face both sides on lathe
- Turn outer profile (for both)
- Bore our inner profile (for both)
- Use Radial Indexer on the mill to drill holes (in both)
Testing