Experimental and Numerical Examination of the BHT-200 Hall Thruster Plume

Nakles, Michael R.; Brieda, Lubos; Reed, Garrett; Hargus, William A.; Spicer, Randy L.

doi:10.2514/6.2007-5305

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…The high conductivity of collisionless electrons suggests a near-isothermal behavior in a large region of the plasma plume, an hypothesis that is supported by several experimental observations 10,11 . This is related to the fact that electrons respond globally to the plume expansion and are essentially confined by the potential in the plume, i.e.…”

Section: Fluid Model For the Far Region Plumementioning

confidence: 76%

Modeling and Simulation of EP Plasma Plume Expansion into Vacuum

Cichocki

Merino²,

Ahedo³

2014

50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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Modeling the far region expansion into vacuum of a plume from an electric thruster is crucial in engineering fields such as spacecraft platform design or mission analysis of a novel contactless orbital object relocator technique, known as Ion Beam Shepherd (IBS). In this context, a two-fluid model for the collisionless, quasi-neutral far region plume expansion is presented and two innovative semi-analytical solution methods introduced. A first solution is based on the perturbation method about the hypersonic expansion limit. A second solution, based on the self-similarity assumption, generalizes and contextualizes existing plume models of that kind. The validity and limitations of each approximation are discussed in detail and their accuracy is evaluated by comparing them with the exact solution obtained numerically with the method of characteristics. Lastly, the development plans for an advanced Hybrid/PIC plasma plume simulator, EP2-Plus, are presented.

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Section: Fluid Model For the Far Region Plumementioning

confidence: 76%

Modeling and Simulation of EP Plasma Plume Expansion into Vacuum

Cichocki

Merino²,

Ahedo³

2014

50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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“…A flatter dependence curve, or one where the peak is at a high angle, will result in a relatively uniform erosion Measurements of the BHT-200 plume 7,8 show three distinct populations: singly charged ions, doubly charged ions, and triply charged ions. These are in addition to electrons and neutral xenon particles.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calculating Sputter Rate Angular Dependence Using Optical Profilometry (Preprint)

Barrie¹,

Taylor²,

Ekholm³

et al. 2007

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Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)Air Force Research Laboratory (AFMC) AFRL/PRS SPONSOR/MONITOR'S Pollux Drive NUMBER(S)Edwards AFB CA 93524-7048 AFRL-PR-ED-TP-2007-381 DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution unlimited (PA #07318A). ABSTRACTThis work attempts to determine angular dependence curves for sputter rates of a material based on a single experimental measurement. An aluminum cylinder was exposed to a BHT-200 plume, and the resulting erosion profile was measured. This profile was fed into an optimizer, which calculated the angular dependence curve to match the given erosion profile. The calculated profile matched well with the experimental profile; however, neither matched well with previously published results. The likely cause of this discrepancy was the non-uniformity of the ion source used. As a further validation of the optimization routine, the angular dependence curve was input to the COLISEUM plasma modeling code, which generated the same erosion profile as the experimental data. Abstract: This work attempts to determine angular dependence curves for sputter rates of a material based on a single experimental measurement. An aluminum cylinder was exposed to a BHT-200 plume and the resulting erosion profile was measured. This profile was fed into an optimizer, which calculated the angular dependence curve to match the given erosion profile. The calculated profile matched well with the experimental profile, however neither matched well will previously published results. The likely cause of this discrepancy was the non-uniformity of the ion source used. As a further validation of the optimization routine, the angular dependence curve was input to the Coliseum plasma modeling code, which generated the same erosion profile as the experimental data.

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“…IV.B and in [59,60]. The ratio of R p ∕λ D (where R p is the biased guard ring outer diameter) in Faraday probe measurements of the 200 W HET plume were estimated based on past studies [100]. The estimated ratio R p ∕λ D varied from 21 at eight TDD to 15 at 20 TDD at 3 × 10 −6 torr-Xe, and it increased to 64 at eight TDD and to 49 at 20 TDD at 3 × 10 −5 torr-Xe.…”

Section: E Global Plume Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recommended Practice for Use of Faraday Probes in Electric Propulsion Testing

Brown

Walker

Szabo

et al. 2017

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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Faraday probes are a common plasma diagnostic used to determine the local ion charge flux of electric propulsion plumes. Standard practices, guidelines, and recommendations are provided for experimental methods and analysis techniques that aim to standardize community practices, to mitigate test environment effects, and to reduce systematic measurement error in order to improve plume predictions in the space environment. The approaches are applicable to time-averaged plasma properties in the near-field and far-field of electric propulsion plumes, with emphasis on Hall effect thrusters and gridded ion thrusters. Considerations for other electric propulsion technologies are provided, including electrosprays, arcjets, and electromagnetic thruster concepts. These test strategies are expected to increase the quality of comparisons between different thrusters and vacuum environments, thereby broadening the applicability of ground-based measurements and enhancing the fidelity for on-orbit predictions and modeling validation.

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Experimental and Numerical Examination of the BHT-200 Hall Thruster Plume

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

Modeling and Simulation of EP Plasma Plume Expansion into Vacuum

Modeling and Simulation of EP Plasma Plume Expansion into Vacuum

Calculating Sputter Rate Angular Dependence Using Optical Profilometry (Preprint)

Recommended Practice for Use of Faraday Probes in Electric Propulsion Testing

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