| astronautix.com | ED-140 |
Without the knowledge of the German engineers, Glushko built their design for the next phase of the Lilliput engine concept, the 7 tonne thrust ED-140, in 1951. This engined featured the same features demonstrated in the subscale KS-50 Lilliput: radical flat-plate injector, 60 atmosphere combustion pressure, cyldindrical chamber. ED-140's were built in a variety of lengths to test engine performance with various length:diameter ratios of the chamber and propellant mixture ratios. 19 ED-140-derived engines (diameter reduced to 200 mm) were used as preburners in Glushko's RD-110 engine, but it proved too difficult to achieve consistent propellant flow to all chambers simultaneously. However the ED-140 configuration would form the basis of Glushko's rocket engines for the next fifteen years. The chamber head 'bridge' concept of the ED-140 is used in Energomash engines to this day.