MUMBAI, India, Jan. 23 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202641001503 A) filed by Indian Institute Of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, on Jan. 6, for 'a capillary-fed evaporative micro-thruster apparatus and method for generating thrust in a satellite.'
Inventor(s) include Susmita Dash; Akshay Sharma; Pratikash Prakash Panda; and Amrit Ambirajan.
The application for the patent was published on Jan. 23, under issue no. 04/2026.
According to the abstract released by the Intellectual Property India: "Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to micro-propulsion systems, and more particularly relate to a capillary-fed evaporative micro-thruster apparatus and method for generating thrust in a satellite. Further, Apparatus includes a propellant reservoir (102) to store liquid propellant, an evaporation chamber (106) in fluid communication with the propellant reservoir (102) and a capillary wick structure (104) to transport liquid propellant to the evaporation chamber (106). A heating element (108) thermally coupled to the capillary wick structure (104) locally heats the delivered liquid to induce evaporation at wick surface, and a shutter (112) disposed at an opening of a nozzle (110), discharges generated vapor to produce thrust. The evaporation chamber (106) maintains steady-state pressure to suppress wick icing under low-vacuum conditions and enables choked flow through nozzle (110). The capillary wick structure (104) exhibits a predefined capillary retention limit, and sensors monitor temperature, pressure, and propellant level for regulated operation."
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
