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The Saturn V FUELDRAULIC Gimbal System (1963)
Why will kerosene be used as the hydraulic fluid (instead of 5606 oil) in the gimbal actuation system of Saturn V’s booster? Here are the reasons for the decision.
Preliminary design calculations indicated that considerable beefing-up of gimbal systems of the type used for the Jupiter and Saturn I vehicles would be necessary to meet the greatly increased requirements of the S-IC. However, increasing the operating pressure and flow rate for such a system from 3,000 to 4,000 psi and from approximately 15 to 100 gpm, respectively, to meet S-IC requirements would necessitate redesign and qualification of most major components. However, the flash point was sufficiently high that by means of special purchasing requirements (including batch-wise testing) it was possible to insure that it did not fall below 200°F, the lower limit recommended for this application based on safety considerations.
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