Conceptual design of a rechargeable air thruster for small aerial vehicles

A lot of research in Aerospace Engineering aims both to miniaturization and development of economic projects. In this scenario the increasing employment of Lighter Than Air Vehicles such as blimps and balloons requires a new generation of attitude controllers with lower requirements in terms of mass and overall resources. This document analyzes the optimization of an innovative Rechargeable Cold Gas Actuator which is able to collect the propellant directly from the surrounding environment. In the first part of the paper the conceptual design of the actuator is introduced. After that, the optimization of thrust and total impulse parameters and to the development of a simplified technological demonstrator is discussed, and the last section analyzes future applications and niches of the marketplace.