Faraday Acceleration with Radio-Frequency Assisted Discharge

Choueiri, Edgar Y.; Polzin, Kurt A.

doi:10.2514/1.16399

Cited by 37 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…Two concepts that have employed this geometry are the Pulsed Inductive Thruster (PIT) 2, 3 and the Faraday Accelerator with Radio-frequency Assisted Discharge (FARAD). 4 Pulsed inductive plasma accelerators possess many demonstrated and potential benefits, 1, 3 providing motivation for continued investigation. The electrodeless nature of these thrusters eliminates electrode erosion, mitigating the lifetime and contamination issues associated with conventional electric thrusters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of an Additional Parallel Capacitor on Pulsed Inductive Plasma Accelerator Performance

Polzin

Sivak

Balla

2012

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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A model of pulsed inductive plasma thrusters consisting of a set of coupled circuit equations and a one-dimensional momentum equation has been used to study the effects of adding a second, parallel capacitor into the system. The equations were nondimensionalized, permitting the recovery of several already-known scaling parameters and leading to the identification of a parameter that is unique to the particular topology studied. The current rise rate through the inductive acceleration coil was used as a proxy measurement of the effectiveness of inductive propellant ionization since higher rise rates produce stronger, potentially better ionizing electric fields at the coil face. Contour plots representing thruster performance (exhaust velocity and efficiency) and current rise rate in the coil were generated numerically as a function of the scaling parameters. The analysis reveals that when the value of the second capcitor is much less than the first capacitor, the performance of the two-capacitor system approaches that of the single-capacitor system. In addition, as the second capacitor is decreased in value the current rise rate can grow to be twice as great as the rise rate attained in the single capacitor case.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of an Additional Parallel Capacitor on Pulsed Inductive Plasma Accelerator Performance

Polzin

Sivak

Balla

2012

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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“…T HE Faraday Accelerator with Radio-frequency Assisted Discharge (FARAD) 1 is a type of pulsed inductive plasma accelerator being developed for spacecraft propulsion. The device is electrodeless, with capacitively-stored energy discharged through an inductive coil to induce a plasma near the coil face.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operational Characteristics of a Low-Energy FARAD Thruster

Polzin

Rose

Miller

2008

44th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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Data from a 100 J per pulse electrodeless accelerator employing pulsed RF-preionization are presented to gain insight into the accelerator's operating characteristics. The data suggest that the propellant distribution is highly unoptimized, with most of the gas inaccessible to the discharge and the remainder mostly concentrated at the inner radius of the coil. The pulsed RF-preionization discharge produces a visible plasma, but like the gas distribution it mostly appears concentrated at the inner radius of the thruster. Magnetic field probes in the discharge point to a current sheet that is not magnetically impermeable. These data also exhibit signs of nonrepeatability, and time-integrated discharge photography shows signs of spatial nonuniformity in both the radial and azimuthal directions. Terminal voltage measurements on the two capacitor banks of the thruster do not exhibit the asymmetric nature (in time) typically associated with an efficient pulsed plasma accelerator. Based on the experimental evidence, the poor performance of the thruster is thought to be due to insufficient preionization, which at these low discharge energy levels severely limits the ability of the main current pulse to couple with and effectively accelerate the propellant.

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“…The use of electric propulsion (EP) results in a reduction in the amount of propellant needed for a given mission because of the high values of specific impulse associated with EP as compared to other conventional propulsion systems. Pulsed inductive plasma thrusters [1][2][3][4] are spacecraft propulsion devices in which electrical energy is capacitively stored and then discharged through an inductive coil. The thruster is electrodeless, with a time-varying current in a coil interacting with a plasma covering the face of the coil to induce a plasma current.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of preionization is ubiquitous throughout literature on pulsed inductive devices with a wide range of applications, including plasma fusion as well as space propulsion. For example, preionization has been successfully employed by striking a discharge between two appropriately placed electrodes [6,7], sending a separate lower-energy pulse through an inductive coil before the main discharge [8,9], and creating a seed plasma in a planar pulsed inductive accelerator [4,10].…”

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confidence: 99%

Design of a Microwave Assisted Discharge Inductive Plasma Accelerator

Hallock¹,

Polzin²

2010

46th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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A new plasma accelerator concept that employs electrodeless plasma preionization and pulsed inductive acceleration is presented. Preionization is achieved through an electron cyclotron resonance discharge that produces a weakly-ionized plasma at the face of a conical theta pinch-shaped inductive coil. The presence of the preionized plasma allows for current sheet formation at lower discharge voltages than those found in other pulsed inductive accelerators. The location of an electron cyclotron resonance discharge can be controlled through the design of the applied magnetic field in the thruster. A finite-element model of the magnetic field was used as a design tool, allowing for the implementation of an arrangement of permanent magnets that yields a small volume of preionized propellant at the coil face. This allows for current sheet formation at the face of the inductive coil, minimizing the initial inductance of the pulse circuit and maximizing the potential efficiency of the new accelerator.

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Faraday Acceleration with Radio-Frequency Assisted Discharge

Cited by 37 publications

References 13 publications

Effect of an Additional Parallel Capacitor on Pulsed Inductive Plasma Accelerator Performance

Effect of an Additional Parallel Capacitor on Pulsed Inductive Plasma Accelerator Performance

Operational Characteristics of a Low-Energy FARAD Thruster

Design of a Microwave Assisted Discharge Inductive Plasma Accelerator

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