An intense Hall-type ion source for satellite propulsion

Abstract

The design improvements of future plasma thrusters require the investigation of the physical phenomena occurring during the thruster operation. We have investigated a small, Hall-type thruster (or stationary plasma thruster). The different currents and the thrust of the thruster will be reported. Plasma parameters have been measured with Langmuir probes located outside the thruster. Finally, an electrostatic ion energy analyzer located in the plume has permitted the determination of the ion energy distribution function.

Effect of anode dielectric coating on Hall thruster operation

“…In spite of a number of experimental [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and theoretical [13][14][15] studies of a HT internal plasma structure, the understanding of the intra-anodal and near-anode processes in HTs is still very limited. It was suggested theoretically that steady-state operation of a HT requires the presence of a negative anode fall.…”

Experimental studies of anode sheath phenomena in a Hall thruster discharge

“…4 (a), in the case of the clean anode, the plasma potential at 2 -indicates the presence of an electron-repelling anode sheath predicted theoretically in Hall. 23 Although there are many experimental studies of the HT plasma structure 11,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] , this appears to be the first experimental observation of the electron-repelling anode sheath in Hall thrusters.…”

“…2 is specific to the 12.3 cm Hall thruster in this study; in general, anode may be constructed without gas-mixing baffles 33 , or even be separated from a gas distributor 15,34 . Interestingly, operation of a Hall thruster with the coated anode was also observed in the case when the anode design does not include gasmixing baffles and when there are no gaps between the anode and the channel walls.…”

“…29 was employed for measurements in the near-anode region of the 2 kW Hall thruster with clean and coated anodes. 27 The thruster has a conventional annular configuration with a channel length of 4.6 cm (which is in the 2 -8 cm range typical for HTs [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] ) and a channel width of 2.5 cm [ Fig The plasma potential, plasma density and electron temperature were measured at 2, 7…”

“…In spite of a number of experimental [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] and theoretical [23][24][25][26] studies of a Hall thruster internal plasma structure, the understanding of the anode sheath phenomena in Hall thrusters was, until recently, very limited. A more detailed review of previous works and additional motivation for studying the anode sheath phenomena in Hall thrusters can be found in Refs.…”