The test facilities are an essential prerequisite for developing engine technologies to operational maturity and ensuring their quality. With the P4 hihg-altitude simulation test facility at the DLR Institute of Space Propulsion in Lampoldshausen, DLR is indispensable for the development of the Vinci engine, the most powerful upper stage engine in Europe. With the help of these tests, DLR engineers gained insights into the engine's behaviour, which are used by the manufacturer ArianeGroup for final optimizations.
Video: Test campaign of the Vinci upper stage engine at DLR in Lampoldshausen
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Video: Test campaign of the Vinci upper stage engine at DLR in Lampoldshausen
The test facilities are an essential prerequisite for developing engine technologies to operational maturity and ensuring their quality. With the P4 hihg-altitude simulation test facility at the DLR Institute of Space Propulsion in Lampoldshausen, DLR is indispensable for the development of the Vinci engine, the most powerful upper stage engine in Europe. With the help of these tests, DLR engineers gained insights into the engine's behaviour, which are used by the manufacturer ArianeGroup for final optimizations.
The P4 test stand was developed and built between 1963 and 1966 as part of the ELDO program and has been used as a test facility for upper stage engines as part of the Ariane program since the 1970s. Significant modifications were made in 2002, converting test position P4.1 from a test stand for testing upper stages under atmospheric conditions to a high-altitude simulation test stand. This conversion was carried out in order to create suitable test conditions for the Vinci engine. The special properties of this cryogenic and re-ignitable upper stage engine with 180 kN vacuum thrust – originally planned with a retractable nozzle extension – dictated the dimensions of the altitude chamber and the high demands on the vacuum system. The altitude chamber has side lengths of 5.5 meters and a height of 6.5 meters in order to test the engine and nozzle in a vacuum. Even at full thrust, ambient pressures of a few millibars can be maintained in the altitude simulation facility thanks to an ingenious system of recompression, in which the engine fires directly into a supersonic core diffuser, and extraction, in which the hot gas is evacuated from the facility by steam jet ejectors.
The real-time computer system controls and monitors these tests and is able to record up to 500 sensors on the test object in order to collect the data required for engine development and make it available to the customer. The measuring system enables recording rates of up to 100,000 measured values per second per channel.
The latest modification plans aim to perform engine tests under both vacuum and ground conditions without time-consuming refitting. This significantly extends the versatility and future viability of the P4.1 test position, as flight qualification tests of the core engine (i.e. without nozzle extension) can be performed without complex vacuum requirements, resulting in significant cost savings.
Areas of application
Long-term vacuum tests for development engines
Tests under ground conditions for aircraft engines
Initially, the engine was to be used in the Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME). At the ESA Ministerial Council Conference in December 2014, the member states decided to develop a new launcher, Ariane 6: Ariane 6. Thanks to the re-ignition capability of the Vinci engine, several payloads can be launched from a future Ariane 6 upper stage to different orbits.
