Abstract:
Electrical ignition of electrically operated propellant in a gas generation system provides an ignition condition at an ignition surface between a pair of electrodes that satisfies three criteria of a current density J that exhibits a decreasing gradient along an axis normal to an ignition surface, is substantially constant across the ignition surface and exceeds an ignition threshold at the ignition surface. These criteria may be satisfied by one or more of an angled electrode configuration, a segmented electrode configuration or an additive to the electrically operated propellant that modifies its conductivity. These configurations improve burn rate control and consumption of the available propellant and are scalable to greater propellant mass to support larger gas generation systems.