Patents by Inventor Vaitua Leroi

Vaitua Leroi has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9828975
    Abstract: A system for regulating the flow rate of a propellant fluid for an electrical thruster of a space vehicle, the vehicle including a tank of propellant fluid and a flow rate regulator connected to the outlet of said tank; the flow rate regulator including a heater element controlled by a computer and adapted to heat the propellant fluid and to modify its physical properties so as to vary the flow rate of propellant fluid leaving the tank; said system being characterized in that the computer also includes a plurality of empirical calibration curves that have been determined empirically for defining the flow rate of propellant fluid as a function of the magnitude of heating and as a function of environmental parameters, such that said computer also performs a function of determining the flow rate of the propellant fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventors: Vanessa Vial, Anthony Lorand, Kevin Giboudeaux, Vaitua Leroi
  • Publication number: 20170159647
    Abstract: A system for regulating the flow rate of a propellant fluid for an electrical thruster of a space vehicle, the vehicle including a tank of propellant fluid and a flow rate regulator connected to the outlet of said tank; the flow rate regulator including a heater element controlled by a computer and adapted to heat the propellant fluid and to modify its physical properties so as to vary the flow rate of propellant fluid leaving the tank; said system being characterized in that the computer also includes a plurality of empirical calibration curves that have been determined empirically for defining the flow rate of propellant fluid as a function of the magnitude of heating and as a function of environmental parameters, such that said computer also performs a function of determining the flow rate of the propellant fluid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Publication date: June 8, 2017
    Applicant: SNECMA
    Inventors: Vanessa Vial, Anthony Lorand, Kevin Giboudeaux, Vaitua Leroi
  • Patent number: 8701384
    Abstract: The invention relates to the field of Hall effect thrusters. The invention provides a Hall effect thruster having a discharge channel of annular shape extending along an axis, the discharge channel being defined by an outer wall of annular shape and an inner wall of annular shape situated inside the space defined by the outer wall, a cathode situated outside the discharge channel, and an injector system situated at the upstream end of the discharge channel and also forming an anode, the downstream end of the discharge channel being open, wherein the thruster includes a heat sink device comprising a heat sink in contact with the inner wall and of thermal conductivity that is greater than the thermal conductivity of the inner wall, the heat sink being a sleeve and the heat sink device being suitable for discharging heat from the inner wall to the outside of the thruster so as to reduce the temperature difference between the inner wall and the outer wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventors: Frédéric Marchandise, Vaitua Leroi, Stephan Zurbach, Dominique Indersie
  • Publication number: 20110062899
    Abstract: The invention relates to the field of Hall effect thrusters. The invention provides a Hall effect thruster having a discharge channel of annular shape extending along an axis, the discharge channel being defined by an outer wall of annular shape and an inner wall of annular shape situated inside the space defined by the outer wall, a cathode situated outside the discharge channel, and an injector system situated at the upstream end of the discharge channel and also forming an anode, the downstream end of the discharge channel being open, wherein the thruster includes a heat sink device comprising a heat sink in contact with the inner wall and of thermal conductivity that is greater than the thermal conductivity of the inner wall, the heat sink being a sleeve and the heat sink device being suitable for discharging heat from the inner wall to the outside of the thruster so as to reduce the temperature difference between the inner wall and the outer wall.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Publication date: March 17, 2011
    Inventors: Frédéric Marchandise, Vaitua Leroi, Stephan Zurbach, Dominique Indersie