Influence of nozzle size and current input on thrust of the contractile water jet thruster

This paper discussed the thrust characterization of the contractile water jet thruster using Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) actuators. In this research, the effects of current input variation on the generated thrust at different nozzle size had been studied. By adjusting input power to the actuators, the optimization of the system which influenced by the nozzle opening area had been determined. The result shows the optimum thrust was 113.95mN at 37.96mm² nozzle size. At this small scale dimension, the optimum thrust could be obtained in average was between 35mm² and 40mm². It was concluded as well that higher supplied current would increase the thrust.