In Situ Thermal Characterization of the Accelerator Grid of an Ion Thruster

Bundesmann, Carsten; Tartz, M.; Scholze, Frank; Neumann, H.; Leiter, Hans; Scortecci, Fabrizio

doi:10.2514/1.50049

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…It can be seen that switching on the beam results in a sudden drop of the grid curvature, which was tentatively assigned to the electrostatic forces between the grids due to the switched-on high voltages [7]. With increasing operation time, the grid curvature steadily increases and reaches a stable value after about two hours [5,7].…”

Section: Tlh Measurements With the Rit-22mentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Recently, we were reporting on the advanced electric propulsion diagnostic (AEPD) platform [1,2,7], which consists of a modular, high-precision, five-axis positioning system and several diagnostic tools for ion beam and plasma characterization (Faraday probe, retarding potential analyzer, ExB probe, and active thermal probe), optical inspection (TLH, telemicroscope), and thermal characterization (pyrometer, thermocamera). All measurements can be done in situ, if needed all of them with a firing thruster.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In situ erosion measurement tools for electric propulsion thrusters: triangular laser head and telemicroscope

et al. 2022

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The lifetime of electric propulsion (EP) thrusters depends particularly on the erosion characteristics of operation relevant components, for instance, the grid hole erosion of gridded ion thrusters or the channel wall erosion of Hall effect thrusters. Here two tools for in situ erosion measurements are presented, a triangular laser head for surface profiling and a telemicroscope for high-resolution optical imaging. Both can give access to radial and axial erosion parameters. The measurements can be done in situ without the need for breaking the vacuum and dismounting the thruster, which reduces thruster testing time considerably. In situ measurements can also help to ensure reproducibility of thruster performance conditions and can improve statistics of thruster characterization. The present work describes the fundamentals of both techniques in detail, selected experimental setups are presented, their performance is characterized and critically evaluated. The capabilities and limitations related to erosion measurements of EP thrusters are, exemplary, demonstrated for a gridded ion thruster RIT-22 and a Hall effect thruster SPT-100D.

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Section: Tlh Measurements With the Rit-22mentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ erosion measurement tools for electric propulsion thrusters: triangular laser head and telemicroscope

et al. 2022

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“…The work presented here has been carried out in order to extend the diagnostic capabilities of the Advanced Electric Propulsion Diagnostics (AEPD) platform, which has been set up by IOM and partners [65][66][67]. The platform has been applied for thruster characterization in several measurement campaigns and involves measurement sensors for monitoring mechanical parts such as grid temperature (pyrometer, thermocamera) and grid/channel erosion (telemicroscope, triangular laser head).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single- and two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy in rare gases for gridded ion thruster diagnostics

et al. 2022

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Methods based on laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy are widely used for spatially resolved non-intrusive diagnostics of atomic or molecular densities and velocity distributions in plasma applications. With regard to electric space propulsion, one focus is on the investigation of rare gases such as xenon or krypton, which are currently the favored propellants in gridded ion- and Hall-effect thrusters. For gridded ion engines, diagnostics of neutral atoms is of interest since charge-exchange processes between neutrals and ions are the main driver of accelerator grid erosion, which limits the lifetime of a gridded ion thruster. Extending the capabilities of the advanced electric propulsion diagnostics platform which has been developed by the IOM and partners, single- and two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence diagnostics have been set-up recently at our institute. Both experimental set-ups, and as a series of first applications, measurements of krypton neutrals in the plume of the radiofrequency ion thruster RIT-10 (ArianeGroup GmbH), and xenon neutrals within the discharge chamber of a gridded radiofrequency ion source developed at IOM, are presented.

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“…The grid deformation can be calculated from the temperature data. Bundesmann [15,16] designed an in situ electric propulsion diagnostic system in which a pyrometer was used to successfully measure the overall temperature of the grid surface. The temperature field on the grid surface was measured at 4 kW power of the RIT-22 thruster.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grid Deformation Real-Time Measurement System of Ion Thruster Based on Videometrics

et al. 2019

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In order to conduct high-precision measurement of the LIPS-300 ion thruster grid deformation in a vacuum, high-temperature, and plasma environment, a noncontact videometrics system using a telemicroscope was designed. Based on the captured image, the interactive partitioning edge detection method (IPEDM) was used to obtain stable and clear edges of multiple circular cooperative targets. Meanwhile, magnification factor calibration, rotation angle correction, and subpixel-level grid deformation measurement were performed with cooperative targets. The measurement results show that under the power of 750 W in the discharge chamber, the maximum thermal deformation of the screen grid is 1120 μm, and the gap between the screen grid and the accelerator grid is reduced by 420 μm. An accuracy assessment of the system shows that the grid deformation measurement accuracy is better than 12 μm, and the system satisfies the requirement of high-precision real-time measurements of the grid thermal deformation of the ion thruster under the discharge-chamber-running condition and the plasma-beam-extraction condition.

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In Situ Thermal Characterization of the Accelerator Grid of an Ion Thruster

Cited by 10 publications

References 14 publications

In situ erosion measurement tools for electric propulsion thrusters: triangular laser head and telemicroscope

In situ erosion measurement tools for electric propulsion thrusters: triangular laser head and telemicroscope

Single- and two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy in rare gases for gridded ion thruster diagnostics

Grid Deformation Real-Time Measurement System of Ion Thruster Based on Videometrics

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