A plasma equilibrium model for rapid estimation of SF-MPDT performance

Fu, Yifeng; Zhou, Cheng; Wu, Po-Liang; Zhang, Zhiqing Philippe; Zhang, Zun; Tang, Haibin

doi:10.1088/2058-6272/ac199e

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Many novel neutralizer-free EP concepts have been proposed to eliminate the negative effects of neutralizers, such as pulsed plasma thruster, helicon wave plasma thruster, magnetoplasmadynamic thruster, and micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster [6,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. PEGASES II is one of the neutralizerfree grid thrusters whose quasi-neutral beam is obtained by alternately extracting positive and negative ions from the plasma source [6,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study of a neutralizer-free gridded ion thruster using radio-frequency self-bias effect

Yang

Guo²,

Bai³

et al. 2023

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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An experimental study on the quasi-neutral beam extracted by a neutralizer-free gridded ion thruster prototype was presented. The prototype was designed using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source terminated by a double-grid accelerator. The beam characteristics were compared when the accelerator was radio-frequency (RF) biased and direct-current (DC) biased. An RF power supply was applied to the screen grid via a blocking capacitor for the RF acceleration, and a DC power supply was directly connected to the screen grid for the DC acceleration. Argon was used as the propellant gas. Furthermore, the characteristics of the plasma beam, such as the floating potential, the spatial distribution of ion flux, and the ion energy distribution function (IEDF) were measured by a four-grid retarding field energy analyzer. The floating potential results showed that the beam space charge is compensated in the case of RF acceleration without a neutralizer, which is similar to the case of classical DC acceleration with a neutralizer. The ion flux of RF acceleration is 1.17 times higher than that of DC acceleration under the same DC component voltage between the double-grid. Moreover, there are significant differences in the beam IEDFs for RF and DC acceleration. The IEDF of RF acceleration has a widened and multi-peaked profile, and the main peak moves toward the high-energy region with increasing the DC self-bias voltage. In addition, by comparing the IEDFs with RF acceleration frequencies of 3.9 MHz and 7.8 MHz, it is found that the IEDF has a more centered main peak and a narrower energy spread at a higher frequency.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study of a neutralizer-free gridded ion thruster using radio-frequency self-bias effect

Yang

Guo²,

Bai³

et al. 2023

Plasma Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The conference contains 6 plenary talks, 20 invited talks, 92 oral presentations, which covers 10 topics, including (1) spacecraft mission planning and electric propulsion system applications; This special issue in the journal of Plasma Science and Technology (PST) is organized from the papers presented in the CEPC 2020. Interested readers can find that the papers concerning the performance and lifetime study of an ion thruster [1], matching characteristics of magnetic field configuration and chamfered channel wall in a magnetically shielded Hall thruster [2], far-field plasma characteristics of a low power Hall thruster [3], grid erosion of a field emission electric propulsion [4], sub-micron-Newton scale thrust measurement system for micro electric thrusters [5], arc anode attachment characteristics [6], magnetically levitated testbed with composite superconductor bearing for micro thrust measurement [7], the fast prediction method of SF-MPD performance based on a plasma 1009-0630/21/100101+02$33.00 equilibrium model [8], ablation characteristics of a laser-assisted pulsed plasma thruster with metal propellant [9], experimental study of an electrospray thruster based on porous media [10]. These papers reflect the latest research progress on electric propulsion technology in universities, research institutes and aerospace industry of China.…”

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confidence: 99%