Experimental Study of Startup Characteristics and Performance of Low-Power Arcjet

Tang, Haibin; Zhang, Xin-ai; Liu, Yu; Wang, Hai‐Xing; Shi, Chenbo; Cai, Bin

doi:10.2514/1.47380

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…When the thrust measurement system is operating in the closed-loop mode, an additional torque is applied to the pendulum to keep it in the same position while being affected by the external torque [29,30]. The detailed principle is schematically described in figure 3.…”

Section: Closed-loop Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reference voltage here is the sensor output voltage corresponding to a preset distance between the pendulum and the sensor. When there is a voltage difference between the sensor signal and the reference signal, it means that the current position of the torsional pendulum deviates from the preset position, and the control circuit will output a specific current according to the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control method [29]. The current through the feedback coil will interact with the magnet sheet fixed on the pendulum and generate a certain force to push or pull the pendulum back to the preset position.…”

Section: Closed-loop Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design and fabrication of a full elastic sub-micron-Newton scale thrust measurement system for plasma micro thrusters

Zhang

Hang²,

et al. 2021

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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In this work, a force measurement system is proposed to measure the thrust of plasma microthruster with thrust magnitude ranging from sub-micro-Newtons to hundreds micro-Newtons. The thrust measurement system uses an elastic torsional pendulum structure with a capacitance sensor to measure the displacement, which can reflect the position change caused by the applied force perpendicular to the pendulum axis. In the open-loop mode, the steady-state thrust or the impulse of the plasma micro-thruster can be obtained from the swing of the pendulum, and in the closed-loop mode the steady-state thrust can be obtained from the feedback force that keeps the pendulum at a specific position. The thrust respond of the system was calibrated using an electrostatic weak force generation device. Experimental results show that the system can measure a thrust range from 0 to 200 μN in both open-loop mode and closed-loop mode with a thrust resolution of 0.1 μN, and the system can response to a pulse bit at the magnitude of 0.1 mN s generated by a micro cathode arc thruster. The background noise of the closed-loop mode is lower than that of the open-loop mode, both less than 0.1 / mN Hz in the range of 10 mHz to 5 Hz.

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Section: Closed-loop Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Closed-loop Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of a full elastic sub-micron-Newton scale thrust measurement system for plasma micro thrusters

Zhang

Hang²,

et al. 2021

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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“…The ATOS program was accompanied by developments of (simulated) hydrazine (Riehle et al , 1997a, 1997b) and hydrogen (Riehle and Laux, 1999) thrusters up to engineering models status at the IRS funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Other countries, especially Japan (Hiratsuka et al , 1999) (Ogiwara et al , 1995) and also Italy (Di Stefano et al , 1993), Russia (Vaulin et al , 1995) and China (Haibin et al , 2001; Tang et al , 2011) developed their own low power arcjet systems but – as far as known to the authors – never reached flight qualification status. Japan, however, sent the two satellites DRTS (Zube et al , 1998) and WINDS (Kuninaka, 2005) into space with Aerojet arcjets on board.…”

Section: Overview Of Arcjet Power Classesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of thermal arcjet thruster development

Wollenhaupt¹,

Le²,

Herdrich³

2018

AEAT

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Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of current and historical arcjet development. The reviewed arcjets are considered with respect to both design and thruster relevant parameters. Correspondingly, the paper enables the identification of adequate design criteria and of the probable thruster parameters. Design/methodology/approach The approach consists of a database for thruster relevant parameters in conjunction with relevant operational requirements (such as type of propellant) and specific design criteria (such as e.g. propellant injection systems). Findings The synopsis of both operational parameter and respectively assigned design allows for the derivation of development approaches for arcjets under given high level requirements such as power regime. Research limitations/implications The paper is a general review. However, its strength is in the synthesis of the arcjet classification, the functional evidence of design criteria and the application scenario. Practical implications Not only basic but also specific design criteria are analyzed and evaluated leading to a recommendation feature of the paper with respect to the overall design of adequate arcjets. Social implications Within the scope of the Clean Space initiative, new applications and scenarios from the operation of arcjets arise enabling EOL phases of spacecraft that fulfill respective levels of debris mitigation and, in addition, the requirements concerning the adequately adapted re-entry of spacecrafts that are at end of life. Originality/value The paper is a general review. However, its strength is in the synthesis of the arcjet classification, the functional evidence of design criteria and the application scenario.

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“…The life of an MPD thruster is mainly dictated by the life of the cathode [9]. The cathode erosion mechanism varies with different devices and also with different stages in the operation of a given device: these can be divided into a start-up stage and a steady-state stage [10]. During the start-up stage, there are quantities of tiny spots on the cathode surface, the current density of which can reach 10 12 A m −2 [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cathode erosion site distributions in an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Wang

Li³

et al. 2020

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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Erosion can influence cathode life, and is thus considered to be one of the main factors limiting the application of applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters. In this paper, erosion sites on graphite cathodes are studied so as to identify the influence of applied magnetic field and the ratio of propellant mass flow rate supplied from cathode and anode. The experiment results show that the application of applied magnetic field can significantly reduce the erosion rate of the cathode compared to that without magnetic field. The erosion sites on the cathode vary with the relative position of the convergent-divergent magnetic field, and are mainly distributed in the divergent part of the field. The erosion sites on the cathodes are found to be related to the propellant supply. The decreasing anode mass flow rate enlarges the range of erosion. These results are much helpful for the analysis of cathode erosion site location since they provide evidences of erosion mechanisms and point out the directions for further research.

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Experimental Study of Startup Characteristics and Performance of Low-Power Arcjet

Cited by 8 publications

References 16 publications

Design and fabrication of a full elastic sub-micron-Newton scale thrust measurement system for plasma micro thrusters

Design and fabrication of a full elastic sub-micron-Newton scale thrust measurement system for plasma micro thrusters

Overview of thermal arcjet thruster development

Cathode erosion site distributions in an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

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