Project Description:
The EPFL Rocket Team is an interdisciplinary project and an association which goal is to build a rocket and participate in an international competition in the USA. At the competition, the rocket must reach 10’000 feet (3’048m) and in the future we will aim at 30’000 feet.
The tank holds the liquid propellant for our hybrid motor. It has plumbing with passes through the Valve Bay, where the controls are, and into the combustion chamber for the combustion phase.
This year, we made a 1st structural tank, in order to increase the useful diameter and decrease the length of the whole tank. The current version is an aluminium tube to which caps are welded and the whole is annealed in order to create the finished product, the three initial parts pictured right.
The goal of this project is to optimise the 1st version of the structural tank which has been designed with only the structural integrity as priority. Wires must be passed alongside the tank, to link the avionics with the valve bay and airbrakes.
The main tasks for this project are to optimise the design of the tank and justify the choice of having welded caps or use another method and ensure that the tank holds the flight forces.