Patent ID: 7762058

Claim:
An aerovortical swirl-enhanced combustion system for use in a rocket propulsion thruster system, the combustion system comprising: an annular combustor having an inlet and an exit; a first injector for injecting a first combustion constituent into the inlet of the annular combustor; an aerovortical swirl generator positioned at the inlet of the annular combustor, the aerovortical swirl generator comprising a swirler having a plurality of helicoid flow channels for introducing a highly turbulent, three-dimensional swirling flowfield into the first combustion constituent; a second injector for injecting a second combustion constituent into the swirling flowfield of the first combustion constituent such that a burning combustion process can take place in the swirling flowfield, the first and second combustion constituents selected from the group consisting of a fuel and an oxidizer; a dump-step located at the inlet of the annular combustor such that an initial portion of the swirling flowfield of the first combustion constituent flows over the dump-step to create a toroidal outer recirculation zone alone the combustor wall; an inlet ramp adjacent to the dump step to increase a height of the dump-step to increase the height, length and volume of the toroidal outer recirculation zone; and an exhaust nozzle connected to the exit of the combustor wall for receiving byproducts of the combustion process to produce thrust.