Rocket Igniters in the Presence of Radio Energy
-Experiment Two: Raw Data -
By Don Irving ([email protected])
Copyright © 1996 Donald J. Irving
Experiment Two - Igniters attached to their zip-cord leads.
These are the raw results from my testing with Daves igniters attached the the zip-cord leads they come packaged with. This configuration provides a degree of RF coupling that is probably much closer to what one would expect at a launch site than my dipole testing in experiment one. However, keep in mind that at a launch site the zip-code leads would be attached to long control cables running to the control equipment, and I did not test with any such long wires.
I performed six trials in which I transmitted RF carrier for over one minute each. I used the same sample igniter for each test, and I wanded the transmit antenna all around the hanging zip-cord leads up to a minimum separation of about one inch. The Trial column enumerates my six trials. The Lead length column tells how long the zip-cord leads were cut to. The Lead ends column tells whether the zip-cord lead ends were shorted or open. The Power column tells how may watts of transmit power I used as measured at the beginning of each transmission by an in-line PWR/SWR meter. The SWR column gives the Standing Wave Ratio of the emitted signal from the antenna as measured at the beginning of each transmission on an in-line, dual needle PWR-SWR meter. A reading of 1:1 means that virtually all transmitted power radiated properly from the antenna into space. The Ignition column tells whether the igniter burned.
Trial Lead length Lead ends Power (watts) SWR Ignition? 1 6 ft. shorted 50 1:1 No 2 6 ft. open 50 1:1 No 3 38 in. shorted 50 1:1 No 4 38 in. open 50 1:1 No 5 19 in. shorted 50 1:1 No 6 19 in. open 50 1:1 No
Copyright © 1996 Donald J. Irving
Document URL: http://www.irving.org/rocketry/igniters/proto1.html
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