Electrical and Software
Flow control
Hot-fire sequence design
The team is required to stay in the bunker during a hot fire, so the engine must be controlled remotely. We chose to use two ESP32s, one of which would send commands (COM Board), and the other would report data (DAQ Board). Both devices were constructed as state machines, with COM Board connected to the computer to transmit the data reported by the DAQ Board.
Here is a state machine diagram to visualize the communication:
Explanation of the State Machine
After the initial start-up, the COM board first goes into state 0, then settles in state 1. It instructs the DAQ board to enter state 1 and only poll for data at a relatively slow rate (about 1 data point per second). The COM Board and DAQ board lights would flash when a data packet is successfully sent or received.
When button 1 is pressed, the COM board enters state 3, the armed state. The DAQ board receives the command to change state and moves to state 3 as well. Both the COM and DAQ lights become solid to indicate the state change. Here the poling occurs more frequently, and the system is ready to execute the hot-fire stages.
After button 2 is pressed, ignition occurs. However, no further actions are happening as a visual confirmation of a visible flame is necessary to continue.
Once a visible flame is confirmed, and button 3 is pressed, the COM board enters state 5. The DAQ board, after moving to the same state, enters an automatic process. At this point, instead of commanding, the COM board listens for the status update from the DAQ board.
The DAQ board, at state 5, opens GOX valve and keep the ETH valve closed. After approximately 0.5 second, the board moves to state 6, where both valves are opened. State 7 comes x seconds afterward, x being the planned hot-fire time, and closes the GOX valve. It lasts for another 0.5 second, and transitions into state 8, where both valves are closed. At this point, DAQ resets the state to 0, and pass it back to the COM board, which adjusts the state accordingly. A full hot-fire sequence is complete.
Devices connected to DAQ: 4 PTs (pressure transducers), 1 FM (flow meter), load cells.
Code Implementation
Code Highlights
Since the bunkers and the launch pad are approximately 100 ft apart, using a wired cable between the ESP32s, although reliable and still popular in collegiate teams, was not economically efficient. Instead, we established a wireless connection between the COM and DAQ boards, with an information queue that can hold data while transmitting.
The "pts" are the pressure transducers we implemented throughout the engine system, while the "lcs" are load cells for measuring the engine thrust, and fm is the flow meter measurement. For both sending and receiving data, functions and interrupts are set up to handle.
Establishing the data structure for communications:
In setup(), we need to call the following commands to get everything working:
The following code is the implementation of the state machine. State cases such as -1, 30, etc. are omited since they are only for testing and debugging purposes. Those states are not a part of the main hot-fire sequence.
Data acquisition and processing
Automation in calibration
Last updated