Early in the Fall 2021 semester, I spent time manufacturing two quick-disconnect actuators for use on Purdue Space Program’s (PSP) liquid rocket, Boomie Zoomie B. I used Fusion 360 to design and generate the CAM programs, and then used HAAS VF-2 and VF-4 machines (3 and 5 axis CNC mills, respectively) to manufacture them.

Our system consists of 5 total quick disconnects: 1 helium (fill), 2 fuel (fill and vent), and 2 LOX (fill and vent). I worked on the two propellant fill QDs, which play an important role in safely filling our propellant tanks. They allow us to easily and remotely disconnect and seal the fill lines from the rocket. This is really important as nobody wants to do this manually while standing next to a fully pressurized rocket!

PSP: Liquids is currently in a tight race to win the FAR-MARS launch contest, and our quick disconnect system is a strong competitive advantage. Unfortunately, it is because of this that I cannot publicly share pictures of my work at this time. For now, I’ll just share this super cool picture from our first Cold Flow test.

(See More @ PurdueSEDS.space)