1. Effects of gas supply direction on the discharge characteristics of a low-power Hall thruster.
- Author
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Fan, Haotian, Ding, Yongjie, Wang, Lei, Chen, Zhiguo, Zhang, Yizhou, Wei, Liqiu, Li, Hong, and Yu, Daren
- Subjects
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HALL effect , *PROPELLANTS , *GASES - Abstract
Micro-nano satellites show considerable potential in the application of low-orbit satellite networks, and low-power Hall effect thrusters (HETs) that provide the impetus for them have also attracted considerable attention worldwide. However, the relatively large surface-to-volume ratio of low-power HETs leads to significant loss of ions on the wall surface. After the channel width is increased or the ionization area is moved outward, ensuring sufficient ionization of the propellant is very difficult, and thus its integrated performance is not high. Thus, in this study, a 100-W permanent magnet HET with an aft-magnetic field is considered as the carrier to investigate the effect of gas supply direction on the thruster discharge characteristics through a simulation and experiments. Results indicate that under the same working conditions, adopting the circumferential direction gas supply mode effectively increases the density of the propellant in the ionization zone (up to 7%), improves the propellant ionization rate (up to 12.7%), and improves integrated discharge performance (the anode efficiency can be increased by up to 5.3%). In addition, the performance optimization effect of this mode is more evident under the working condition of low flow. When combined with an aft-magnetic field, this method is an effective means to ensure high-efficiency discharge of a low-power HET, which can be used as a reference for the miniaturization development of HETs. • The circumferential direction gas supply mode increases the density and ionization rate of propellant. • The performance optimization effect is more evident under the working condition of low flow. • The circumferential direction gas supply mode is an effective means to ensure high-efficiency discharge of low-power HET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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