One question that we keep getting asked is “can this electric spark igniter be used with composite propellant engines?”. With the addition of the BlueHeat Ignition wires the answer is YES.
This one launch ignition system can be used to ignite A-E and beyond.
We successfully and consistently ignite A-E black powder rocket engines using our electric spark igniter.
We ran a test yesterday to see if we could ignite a composite propellant engine with just the spark from the igniter. As suspected, that didn’t work because the spark doesn’t generate enough heat for this application.
Another test was to see if the electric spark igniter would ignite the ignition wires that come with the Aerotech composite engines which normally hook up to a 12V system. As expected, that didn’t work because those wires just conduct the electricity with no spark created and our system uses a lower voltage than a car battery.
Knowing we need to ignite a chemical mixture using a spark which then heats the composite engine we created the BlueHeat Ignition wires to connect to the spark gap igniter. On this test, as you can see in the video, the electric spark igniter can successfully ignite a composite engine when coupled with the BlueHeat Ignition wires.
For those wanting to launch composite engines using the electric spark igniter, the BlueHeat Ignition wires are easy to make. We don’t plan on selling them due to the complexities involved in international shipment of the ignition mixture, so if you want to make them yourself to use with our electric spark igniter then contact us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to share the secret recipe if you haven’t already figured it out from the photos above.
