Plasma diagnosis inside the discharge channel of a low-power Hall thruster working on Xe/Kr mixtures

Zhang, Guangchuan; Ren, Junxue; Tang, Haibin; Wang, Yibai; Zhang, Zhongkai; Liu, Jiubin; Pan, Ruojian; Zhang, Zun; Cao, Jinbin

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.01.013

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is broadly consistent with multiple previous studies [9,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. In these previous works, the cause for the difference in efficiency was largely attributed to the role of ionization rate [9,13,17,18,69,70]. Assuming that xenon and krypton have the same electron temperature at a given condition, xenon would have a higher ionization rate coefficient (figure 2).…”

Section: Overall Efficiency Comparisonsupporting

confidence: 91%

Trends in mass utilization of a magnetically shielded Hall thruster operating on xenon and krypton

Su,

Marks,

Jorns

2024

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The trends in mass utilization with increasing discharge voltage and current are investigated for a magnetically shielded Hall thruster operating on xenon and krypton. A 9-kW class shielded thruster is operated with discharge voltages from 300 to 600 V and discharge currents from 15 to 30 A on xenon and krypton. Experimental measurements of discharge current, thrust, anode efficiency, and ion velocity as a function of axial position are used to calibrate a multi-fluid 2D Hall thruster code at all operating conditions. The results of these calibrated simulations are employed to interrogate the plasma properties inside the thruster channel. A simplified 0D model for mass utilization evaluated on spatial averages of the simulated plasma parameters is employed to interpret the response of this efficiency mode with power for each propellant. It is found that with both higher voltage and current, mass utilization increases for both gases and their relative gap in this efficiency decreases. This can be attributed to the higher plasma densities and ionization rate coefficients at high voltage, and solely to higher plasma densities at high current. The driving factors for the increase in mass utilization are examined in the context of its nonlinear response to internal plasma properties. The behavior of mass utilization is also discussed in context of the gap in overall efficiency between the propellants. Finally, the implications of these results for improving the performance of high power Hall thrusters operating on krypton are examined.

show abstract

Section: Overall Efficiency Comparisonsupporting

confidence: 91%

Trends in mass utilization of a magnetically shielded Hall thruster operating on xenon and krypton

Su,

Marks,

Jorns

2024

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For pure Kr and Ar (0% and 100% Ar) cases, where equations ( 6) and ( 7) cannot be used due to the absence of the admixture, the continuity equation for pure ion species k was used to calculate L. This provides L = vi,k /n n,k K k (T e ) from equation ( 4) and assuming ne ≈ ni,k . Moreover, the pure ion density ni,k was calculated from the continuity equation of the neutral particle as shown in equation (9), which results in ni,k = vn,k /K k (T e ) L when using ne ≈ ni,k .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, other cost-effective propellants must demonstrate acceptable performance in electric propulsion devices to justify a change in propellant choice. Many studies have thus investigated the performance and underlying physics for operation with various propellants such as iodine [8], krypton (Kr) [9][10][11][12][13][14], water vapor [15,16], diatomic nitrogen (N 2 ), air [17,18], and argon (Ar) [19,20]. Among them, Kr (83.8 amu), which is the next heaviest noble gas to Xe (131.3 amu), is widely studied and reported to generally provide higher specific impulse due to the lighter mass at a low cost [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Argon admixture-driven enhanced ionization and performance of a 5 kW Hall thruster on krypton

Lee,

Brabston,

Lev

et al. 2024

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Utilizing alternative propellants has been recognized as a strategy to reduce the total cost of propellants in electric propulsion-based missions. The aim of this study is to quantify the Hall effect thruster (HET) performance and operating characteristics using a Kr-Ar mixture to enable mission designers to evaluate the impact on mission and spacecraft design. We present the performance and plume plasma properties of the P5 5 kW-class HET operated with a Kr-Ar mixture with Ar volumetric flow rate fractions from 0 to 100%. The thruster is characterized at discharge power levels of 2.6 kW and 4.1 kW at constant discharge current and voltage over the range of Ar fractions. Despite higher ionization energy and lower mass of Ar, the thruster exhibited a similar level of thrust within 2% when comparing the pure Kr and 26%-Ar mixture cases. The derived ion energy distribution functions and analytical modeling suggest that the characteristic length for the ionization region is extended as the Ar fraction increases. The increased residence time of Kr at the extended ionization region and background energetic electrons from the ionized Ar neutrals are considered to cause this enhanced ionization of the injected Kr neutrals, leading to a 6% higher Kr ion density at the 26%-Ar case even at the 16% reduced injected neutral density than in the pure Kr case. The enhanced Kr ionization and generated Ar ions in the 26%-Ar case consequently led to a comparable thrust with that of the pure Kr case. The study indicates that mixing Ar with approximately 26% volumetrically with Kr can provide a similar or even higher thrust performance at the same discharge power. This will be particularly advantageous for various space missions that require high impulses by reducing the total cost of the propellant.

show abstract

Experimental study on the discharge of a xenon-assisted krypton Hall thruster

Liu,

Li,

Peng

et al. 2024

Acta Astronautica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plasma diagnosis inside the discharge channel of a low-power Hall thruster working on Xe/Kr mixtures

Cited by 3 publications

References 16 publications

Trends in mass utilization of a magnetically shielded Hall thruster operating on xenon and krypton

Trends in mass utilization of a magnetically shielded Hall thruster operating on xenon and krypton

Argon admixture-driven enhanced ionization and performance of a 5 kW Hall thruster on krypton

Experimental study on the discharge of a xenon-assisted krypton Hall thruster

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About