Experimental Study for Electrode Configuration Problem in an MPD Thruster

Abstract

It is well known that the performance of a MPD (MagnetoPlasmaDynamic) thruster is very affected by its geometries. Recently, some researcher pointed out the existence of "optimum electrode geometry" in their 1-dimensional computational studies. Optimum geometry had a few interesting feature, commonly based on converging-diverging geometry. But that has not been confirmed experimentally yet. We investigated the effects of each geometric parameter, using 6 type electrode configurations. Straight, 2 types of Flared and 3 types of converging-diverging anodes were tested at self-field, quasi-steady condition. The result was contrary to the foregoing expectation; the thruster performance was found to be almost indifferent to the change of the each parameter in the case of argon propellant.Nomenclature J = discharge current, kA V = discharge voltage, V T = thrust, N P= input power, kW