Increasing the effective voltage in applied-field MPD thrusters

Li, Zefeng; Tang, Haibin; Wang, Yibai; Wang, Baojun; Lü, Xin; Zhang, Zhe

doi:10.1088/1361-6463/aaa69a

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…The thruster used in the experiment was a 10 kW class AF-MPDT [30,31], and its structural schematic diagram is shown in figure 2. The main thruster components are cathode, anode and insulator.…”

Section: Af-mpd Thrustermentioning

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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Section: Af-mpd Thrustermentioning

confidence: 99%

Cathode erosion site distributions in an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Wang

Li³

et al. 2020

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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“…Numerous methods [4][5][6][7] have been developed to simulate the physical processes of discharge plasma in MPD thrusters. The fluid models based on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations have been widely used to solve the flow characteristic of plasma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of scaling law for particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo simulation of low-temperature magnetized plasma for electric propulsion

Li¹,

Wu²,

Tan³

et al. 2019

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) algorithms are an outstanding numerical method for predicting the kinetic characteristics of discharge plasma. However, heavy computational costs limit its application, especially in large-scale plasma simulations. To investigate the distribution properties of plasma in magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters, we used a scale reduction method called scaling law to simplify and accelerate the PIC/ MCC simulation. In this method, the physical processes, including the particle motion and collisions, of discharge plasma remained unchanged, thereby preserving the similarity of the discharge system before and after scaling. On the basis of the scaling law, all the scaling schemes of the relevant physical quantities were obtained. We verified the scaling law by analysing the electron trajectories and densities in electromagnetic fields at different scaling factors. The scaling methodology shows great advantages in reducing the total computation and the time to achieve the convergence of the simulation. Therefore, the PIC/MCC model with the scaling law provides an efficient and in-depth understanding of the discharge plasma in MPD thrusters.

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“…Therefore, a phenomenological or semi-empirical model is still required to predict the performance of MPDTs, and reveal the effect of several parameters (e.g., discharge current and applied magnetic field strength) on the thrust performance. To date, several theoretical models have been established for both self-field MPDTs (SF-MPDTs) [2,8,9] and applied-field MPDTs (AF-MPDTs) [5,6,[10][11][12][13][14][15]].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modified Electromechanical Modeling and Parameters Analysis of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Wu¹,

Ou²,

Li³

et al. 2019

Energies

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To predict the thrust of magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters (MPDTs), a modified electromechanical model was proposed and a comparison with experimental results is presented in this paper. The motion of propellant in the thruster was divided into two portions: the axial motion which was accelerated by the interaction of current and induced self-field, and the swirling motion which was accelerated by the interaction of current and applied magnetic field. The electromechanical model was in good agreement with the experimental data, and the fitting degrees of the model were greater than 0.93. Furthermore, the influence of parameters on the performance of MPDT were investigated by utilizing the electromechanical model. The results indicate that the thrust performance of the thruster improved with the increase of discharge current, anode radius, applied magnetic field strength, and the decrease of mass flow rate. However, the large anode radius and low mass flow rate readily led to the failure of thruster function. Therefore, the model can not only predict the thrust performance of MPDTs, but also guide the design and operation optimization of the thruster.

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Increasing the effective voltage in applied-field MPD thrusters

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

Cathode erosion site distributions in an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Cathode erosion site distributions in an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Study of scaling law for particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo simulation of low-temperature magnetized plasma for electric propulsion

Modified Electromechanical Modeling and Parameters Analysis of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

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