Some of our team have recently been developing a prototype hybrid rocket motor. Our motor was to be ignited by lighting a length of slow-fuse, waiting for the fuse to burn down some of the length of the fuel, then opening a valve to allow the oxidiser to flow through the fuel. The oxidiser valve requires around 10 amps continuous current, which is rather more than most ignition systems are geared up for.
OkGo (Named after the band) is our ignition system, developed to light the hybrid (We also used it to ignite a number of solid fuel rockets). It’s a very simple system based on buttons, switches and relays, but works well and should be highly reliable. We are considering adding features such as continuity testing (This lets you test whether the ematch is intact and connected before activating it).
A quick demonstration video is included below:
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