The ATREX engine (Air Turbo Ramjet Engine with eXpander cycle) developed in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
is an experimental precooled
jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
that works as a
turbojet at low speeds and a
ramjet up to
mach
Mach may refer to Mach number, the speed of sound in local conditions. It may also refer to:
Computing
* Mach (kernel), an operating systems kernel technology
* ATI Mach, a 2D GPU chip by ATI
* GNU Mach, the microkernel upon which GNU Hurd is bas ...
6.0.
ATREX uses
liquid hydrogen fuel in a fairly exotic single-fan arrangement. The liquid hydrogen fuel is pumped through a
heat exchanger in the air-intake, simultaneously heating the liquid hydrogen and cooling the incoming air. This cooling of the incoming air is critical in achieving a reasonable efficiency. The hydrogen then continues through a second heat exchanger positioned after the
combustion section, where the hot exhaust is used to further heat the hydrogen, turning it in a very high pressure gas. This gas is then passed through the tips of the fan providing driving power to the fan at
subsonic
Subsonic may refer to:
Motion through a medium
* Any speed lower than the speed of sound within a sound-propagating medium
* Subsonic aircraft, a flying machine that flies at air speeds lower than the speed of sound
* Subsonic ammunition, a type o ...
speeds. After mixing with the air, the hydrogen is burned in the combustion chamber.
The development of this engine lost focus in favor of the new hypersonic precooled turbojet engine (PCTJ).
Development Status and Flight Plan of A Precooled Turbojet Engine
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See also
*RB545
HOTOL, for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was a 1980s British design for a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) spaceplane that was to be powered by an airbreathing jet engine. Development was being conducted by a consortium led by Rolls-Royce and B ...
*Skylon Skylon may refer to:
* Skylon (Festival of Britain), a landmark structure of the 1951 Festival of Britain
* Skylon (spacecraft), a proposed orbital spaceplane
* Skylon Tower, an observation tower in Niagara Falls, Ontario
* ''Skylon'' (album), a 20 ...
References
External links
Official ATREX project site
(English version, archived version, July 9, 2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atrex
Space program of Japan
Jet engines