Advancements in Low Leakage Valves for Long Duration Missions

This paper reports on the advancements in the development of low-leakage valve technology for cryogenic environments, currently under development at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. These valves consist of a 3-inch isolation valve, a 3-inch relief valve, and an 8-inch pre-valve. Each of these valves contain a self-aligning seat and poppet design to significantly reduce the quantity of propellant flowing past the seat when the valve is in its closed state (internal leakage). This self-aligning design utilizes a metallic poppet head with five degrees of freedom and is intended to allow a valve to be more tolerant of the imperfect contacts and misalignments that are commonly found between sealing surfaces. This paper covers the test articles, facilities, objectives, and test results.