Thrust Stand - Solid Rocket Motor Thrust Curve Verification

Date, Location: 

Jan. 2020 - May 2023

Melbourne, FL

Summary:

This is a small-scale device that can measure thrust. During the early stages of this project, I had set two major requirements for myself: a minimum thrust measurement of 100 N, and the ability to operate from a distance of at least 30 feet. Thus, the controls are wireless, data is recorded to a microSD card for later analysis, and a 20 Kg load cell is on the stand. 

The wireless controller has a range of up to 800 meters if required. Although I had only ever needed one line of communication between the controller and the test stand, two extra communication lines were included for future-proofing. An Arduino Nano is used to interpret the load cell data and write it to a microSD card. For wireless communication, an NRF24L01 module was chosen for its compatibility with Arduino and low price. Besides the use of libraries, all software to interpret load call data, write to the microSD card, and communicate wirelessly was developed by me. A lot of the hardware was also developed by me, including 3D printed parts, PCBs, and the rail system.

Results:

To verify the device was working, I tested two types of commercially available solid rocket motors with known thrust curve data. The two motors I chose were Estes B6-0 and B6-6. After these motors were safely burned, the collected data was then processed and compared to the data provided by the manufacturer. Below, the results can be found.

Extra pictures of the equipment, hardware, and CAD: