A MEMS glass membrane igniter for improved ignition delay and reproducibility

•This study describes a MEMS igniter for improved ignition characteristics with high structural stability and a uniform membrane thickness.•A glass membrane which had a flat surface and uniform thickness was selected as the igniter material for high membrane structural stability.•Numerical simulations were performed to predict and compare ignition characteristics.•The designed glass membrane igniter was realized as an array-type using a MEMS fabrication process with a glass wafer.•The measured average ignition delay and ignition energy were 17.08 ms and 25.6 mJ, respectively.

A MEMS igniter with improved ignition characteristics and reproducibility is described. A glass wafer was selected as the igniter material for high membrane structural stability. To improve the reproducibility of the igniter, the membrane was designed to realize a flat surface and uniform thickness, which are essential factors for reproducibility. A heater is designed at the under surface of the membrane for direct contact with the propellant. It was expected that this would improve ignition delay compared with the previous glass-ceramic membrane igniter. Numerical simulations are performed to predict and compare ignition characteristics. The designed glass membrane igniter is realized as an array-type using a MEMS fabrication process with a glass wafer. Performance evaluation of the fabricated igniter is conducted through a firing test. At the cubesat's operational voltage of 15 V, the measured ignition delay was 17.1 ms, which is almost the same as the numerical simulation result. Additionally, this result is 34.45% shorter than the measured ignition delay of the previous glass ceramic membrane igniter. The reproducibility is evaluated by consecutively igniting five igniters at 15 V. The calculated average ignition delay and its coefficient of variation are 17.08 ms and 12%, respectively.