Vortex cleaning of fuel tank pressurant gas

One of the problems of space launch vehicle fuel tanks using gas pressure accumulators is dealt with in the article. Helium mixed with gas generator gases is used as a pressure gas accumulator, which makes it possible to increase the specific volume of pressurant gas and decrease the mass of the system. Gas generator gas comprises carbon particles that cause fast clogging of the filter, which leads to a contingency and charge pressure drop. The use of soot-cleaning vortex apparatus was suggested for efficient fail-safe operation of the tank pressurization system. Different types of vortex soot- cleaning devices were considered. A reverse-flow cyclone was chosen as the most appropriate type of vortex soot cleaner for a fuel tank pressurization system. The required soot cleaner was designed and its flow part was modeled. A finite element mesh was obtained and boundary conditions were set. Numerical modeling of the soot cleaning process was carried out in a reverse-flow cyclone with the help of ANSYS Fluent. Fields of soot particle distribution and the character of their motion in the reverse-flow cyclone were plotted.