On the Formation of Nitrogen Oxides During the Combustion of ...

3.2 Measurement Techniques and Data Acquisition
3.2.2 Standard Measurement Techniques
The standard measurement techniques were almost identical for the three utilized
microgravity environments of parabolic flight, drop tower, and sounding
rocket flight. As the sounding rocket environment generally imposes the most
complex technical framework, the respective setup is presented in the following
discourse. If significant, modifications within the parabolic flight or drop
tower setup are emphasized separately.
Measurement of Position
Three motors are installed within the DCU, as summarized in Table 3.3. In
order to control the operation of motors SM1 and SM2, microswitches are
used for sensing the initial and the end position of the moving units. Here,
the actual subsequences are programmed in such a way that the motors either
run a specific number of steps or stop when a microswitch is actuated,
as in the case of a malfunction. The status of the microswitches is logged in
the measurement recordings and is used as a supplementary interlock in the
sequence of the drop tower experiments. Furthermore, a micro annular gear
pump (SM3/mzr ® -2521 2 ) with a flow rate of 0.15 to 9ml min −1 and a smallest
dosage volume of 0.25µl is employed for fuel dosing. It has a precision of 1%,
is driven by a DC motor, and controlled by a discrete program saved on the
motor controller memory.
Table 3.3: Overview of Motor Utilization.
No. Manufacturer Type Utilization Reference
SM1 Danaher Motion P430 Droplet array generation device Fig. 3.4, F
SM2 Danaher Motion P530 Droplet array lifting device Fig. 3.3, E
SM3 HNP Mikrosysteme mzr ® -2521 Fuel dosing system Fig. 3.3, A
2 This number identifies a combination of pump (type: 118639) and its controller (type: 110778).
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