Honors Capstone: Pulse Jet Engine

Resono Pressure Systems, a local Laramie company and the client for this project, is primarily concerned with developing remote pressure-sensing software. Specifically, their unique software removes damping and time-delay effects from remote sensors to produce accurate pressure readings. This software has important aerospace applications, but had not previously been tested under the extreme conditions such applications would require. The purpose of this project was to produce a pulse jet engine for use as a testbed for Resono’s pressure software. A pulse jet is an engine which operates via rapid pulses of combustion at a set frequency. For this project, the pulse jet was intended to simulate the high pressure and temperature environment the software will be expected to function in during real-world use. To fulfill the client’s needs, the pulse jet was required to run at a combustion frequency of approximately 100 Hz and include ports along the outside for interface with the pressure sensors. Previous research was utilized to mathematically model the pulse jet function and produce a working design based on this model. The pulse jet engine was then constructed and tested to ensure the necessary specifications were achieved.