Plasma torch igniter for scramjet and high-speed engines
This technology is an advanced plasma torch system designed to ignite and sustain combustion in very high-speed airflows, such as those found in jet engines and scramjets. It works by preheating fuel through a heat exchanger built directly into the torch body, then injecting that fuel into the hot plasma plume to dramatically improve fuel-air mixing and ignition speed. The compact, low-profile design minimizes disruption to the fast-moving airstream, and the system can be pulsed electrically to further enhance combustion. Using nitrogen as a working gas and adding high-pressure gas to the fuel creates a fizzing effect during injection that further atomizes the fuel for better burning.
What you could build
A drop-in plasma igniter/combustion enhancer module for advanced air-breathing propulsion systems, including military and experimental hypersonic vehicles; primary buyers would be aerospace primes and government propulsion labs developing scramjet or high-speed turbine engines.
Who in Virginia should care
Defense and aerospace contractors with Virginia presence—such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, or Leidos—as well as NASA Langley Research Center, would have direct interest in high-speed propulsion ignition technology.
Readiness: Prototype likely
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Walter F. O'Brien, Matthew C. Billingsley, Darius D. Sanders, Joseph A. Schetz
- Granted
- August 11, 2009
- Status
- Granted patent
- Patent number
- 7571598
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.